BlackWhite
by t.z0n3
Summary: Some things are as simple as Black and White, just like Good and Evil. Adepts don't think their lives can get any worse, but they find out it can. They get caught up in events to decide the fate of the world. AU, please R&R! I NEED REVIEWS PEOPLE!
1. It Begins

As the four adepts waited at the bus stop, the girl sighed. "Why hasn't it come yet? It's nearly half an hour late!"

The older boy patted her on the back. His long brown hair was in a ponytail, and as he turned to look at her, it whipped around. "It's probably just being stalled in traffic, Jenna," he offered hopefully. The other two boys rolled their eyes behind the first two on the street corner. They hadn't seen a car pass in over 15 minutes. The bus had forgotten them yesterday too.

"Oh, come ON Felix... that's what they said yesterday too!" exclaimed the frustrated fire adept. Her long brown hair was brought up in a long ponytail, but unlike the small whip that Felix's hair produced, her hair gave the bigger impression that a ball of spikes was dangling from her head, ready to maul anybody who got close. Her amber eyes blazed with anger. "AHHHHHHHH! What's TAKING them!" She turned to look at the other two boys, who had until this point, stayed out of the conversation.

It would have been suicide to enter it.

"You 2 think so too right? The bus has missed us 3 times this week! Right Isaac? Garet?" The boys' heads quickly bobbed up and down. A few mumbled "Uh-huh"'s and "Yup"'s later, they were out of trouble. Isaac's blonde hair was spikey all over, but Garet's was even spikier, his hair matching his shirt, bright red. The other boys had all chosen to wear jeans and short sleeve shirts, green for Felix, and brown for Isaac. Jenna wore a red shirt, and a long white skirt.

The rickety old bus finally did creep up to their stop, almost another half hour later. The driver motioned for them to get on. "Hurry up you damn kids, I don't have all damn day." His bald head and wrinkled face showed his age easily.

Jenna glared at him as she got on. "YOU were the one keeping US waiting." She stalked past him, but he grabbed her arm. His glare matched hers, as the old man's narrowed eyes pierced into Jenna.

"Listen here missy: I don't give a care for your kind, you adepts. If I had my way, they'd round you all up and put you on reservations, or even better, in work camps. You adepts will ruin the rest of us normal people. You're all lucky I even take time to help you to school. HURRY-"

At that moment, Felix gripped the man's neck, who's eyes wobbled fearfully. "Let go of her arm. NOW." His grip tightened. The man let go. He coughed a moment.

"Hurry the hell up goddamnit!" he weased. The 4 adepts sat down glumly in the seats farthest the back: they were only allowed those seats. The bus bounced around as they began the dreary 30 minute jounrney to school. The journey was lengthened by another 20 minutes when the driver stopped for a bite to eat. Felix and the others managed to restrain Jenna from beating him over the head when he got back, but they were almost angry enough to do it too.

When they got to school, they ran in to find it was already 3rd hour. The hallways seemed to lengthen as the ran, giving them the impression that they were running backwards. They all hurried off to History class, with Mr. Dinglebirg.

He was a hell of a lot meaner than his name implied.

As the ran into the room panting, the monotonous voice they'd heard for a moment outside the door ceased speaking. The room seemed to grow larger as they looked around. The black chalkboard was full of notes the class had been taking. Suddenly, the voice began again, as 18 sneering faces turned to the 4 adepts. Mr. Dinglebirg made 19, as he turned slightly from his desk. There were a few sympathetic faces, but they were few and far between. Maybe 3? "And what do you 4 think you're doing here so late into my class?"

Jenna gasped out, between breaths, "Bus... was... real late... sorry..." They took their seats, at the back of the room, in old run down and rusted desks, and got out pencil and paper as fast as possible from their backpacks.

But then, Mr. Dinglebirg said, "Get up, you 4." Confused, the 4 adepts stood. "Come to the front of the room please." The walked and stood in a line. They looked at each other, then back at the sneering faces of their classmates, who hadn't bothered to stop staring at them yet. Mr. Dinglebirg continued. "These, class, are a group of people called adepts. You all know what they are." His lip twitched, smiling slightly. "They are, if you didn't know already, sub-human."

Jenna shivered, her lip quivering. Felix closed his eyes, veins showing in his temples. Garet glared directly at the teacher. Isaac simply stared at the floor, trying to get over his anger. Mr. Dinglebirg then said, "You see them, coming in here like they own the place? Like they have a right to be late? As you can see, even now surely, the adept male is subject to anger spasms. It seems that Felix here would almost certainly like to kill me... and possibly Garet as well." He looked at Isaac, who had done the best job of masking his anger. "Of course, not all males share this trait. Some of them are quite calm, but this bottles up their anger, and they let it burst in short directed responses to hurt people. I believe this applies to Isaac here." Isaac was shaking, his anger was so great now.

"And the females," said Mr. Dinglebirg, "Are even worse. They are very emotional, unable to use any logic to reason things out. You see, if Jenna would simply accept the fact that she was sub-human, then she wouldn't be blubbering." Jenna hiccuped, then sobbed into her borther shoulder, who embraced her comfortingly, protectively. Jenna was humiliated, just like the boys, it just wasn't her first response to be angry.

One of the girls in the class, who stared at Jenna the most, raised her hand. "Yes, Carolyn?" asked Mr. Dinglebirg.

She smirked. "Isn't it true that the senators are currently voting on a bill to gather the adepts into camps, away from real humans? Something like that?" The 4 adepts shivered. They'd lived with fear of that law for many months now, dreading it parying for lightning to strike it down.

But it hadn't yet.

Mr. Dinglebirg laughed a moment. "Why, yes they are. Unfortunately, many conservative senators are leaning towards not voting for it. For 'humanitarian reasons'." He turned to the four adepts, still standing. "But they aren't human, so you see, that really shouldn't apply." The class laughed uproariously, while Jenna cried louder. "You see class, in the past, these sorts of laws were ignored. But recently, after the adept attacks, the senate elections were largely radical. I think that we might see some progress after all, now that most of the older conservative senators are either dying off, or getting thrown from office." Isaac and Garet moved away towards the teacher.

Garet sputtered out, "Sh-shut up you sonovabitch... how are we sub-human?"

The teacher smiled innocently. "How aren't you? You all live in ratholes, every last one of you. You all have those dangerous powers, and your emotional and anger problems! You all post a threat to every one of us. If that bill passes! IF!" He sighed. "Many like it have failed, but we can always hope..."

Garet started towards Dinglebirg, but Isaac held him back. "Don't do it Garet! It's what he WANTS!" he whispered.

The class laughed some more, while Jenna cried even louder into Felix's shoulder. Mr. Dinglebirg looked over, annoyed. "Shut up girl, you are disrupting my class. Oh yes, and all of you, double detention tommorrow."

Felix froze, and looked ready to jump at Mr. Dinglebirg, but he restrained himself from doing so. The man in question smiled. "You may all sit down now." They retreated to the back of the room, humiliated, laughs and paperwads flaying at their backs. The teacher looked at them, disgusted. "Pick up those paperwads." Isaac did the honors, while Mr. Dinglebirg said, "Today, we begin a unit on this very topic, when, 250 years ago, we forced out the monarchies ruled by these sub-humans, and ushered in a modern age of democracy. Please turn to page 352 in your blue books, where you will see the man that began the idea that adepts were to be treated as they are now..."

As Isaac returned to his seat, he patted Jenna on the back. He hated to see her this way, but that's always how it was. He was surprised that she wanted to go to school so much, when she had to take this everyday. "It's okay Jenna. There's no way they can pass a law like that, right?"

Right?

Jenna looked at him, teary eyed. "But what if they do? Then what?"

Good question.

And so, the day at Vale West High School began.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

It also began for a blue haired girl at Imil High School, about 70 miles away. She, too, was crying, after a boy plastered pottery clay all over her face. The teacher even told her she couldn't go to the bathroom to clean it off.

"Mia, you are disrupting class, now get back to work." She tearfully submitted, her normally beautiful face shoruded and marked with tears, not to mention the pottery clay. Her t-shirt was covered as well, although originally it said, "Rights for adepts!", in bright yellow lettering, over a blue background. Her tight jeans, at least, had escaped most of the clay. She sat down, humiliated, and began to work again on her piece of pottery.

"You know," said the boy loudly to his partner, a girl with pigtails, "I always knew that they'd finally make a law for adepts."

"What law is that?" asked the girl.

The boy smiled. "The law isn't passed yet, but if it passes, all adepts are going to be sent to camps, and forced to work. Won't that be great?"

The girl giggled. "Oh yeah, then we can be rid of Mia over there... gosh she's ugly."

Mia couldn't hardly see through her tears to the pot she was supposed to be sculpting. She pushed too hard on the spinner, and the whole pot disentegrated, spattering her and other students with clay. "What the hell!" and "Watch it dumbass!" reverberated from around her.

The teacher looked at the sniffling adept. "I-I-I'm sorry... l-let me pick it up..." She got out a mop from the closet, and cleaned the liquid mess from the floor as best she could. The teacher sighed.

"Detention, Mia. Again. And a failing grade, you idiot. You haven't managed to finish a single piece of pottery this year..."

Well, actually she had. It was just that the other students had broken it after she finished. She'd really wanted to take one of them back to the care center, for kids without parents, to keep under her bed. At least there, there were other adepts who could share her sentiments at being persecuted. She reflected on the past year. At first, her older friends, those ready to enter society hadn't been all that worried about the new radical legislature. After all, stupid laws like this were submitted all the time by some nutcase, right? There was no way that anybody would take them seriously.

But they did. The law passed in many local elections, making it to the national floor. They were expected to make a decision soon.

And then the attacks.

A militant group of adepts known as Gaia's Hand had massacred 3 villages in Gondowan before being brought to justice, by (who else?) other adepts. Of course, adepts recieved the blame anyway.

And so many conservative senators' arguments were ignored, many were tossed out of office, and the radicals gained power in the senate. The senate ruled over the democracy that had been set up 250 years ago, a democracy that spanned the whole world. It gave equal representation to all peoples in the world, even adepts.

Currently, however, the only adept on the 30 person senate was from Lemuria, an older man named Picard. He'd been the most outspoken defender of adepts' rights, and the most ignored, since he was one himself.

As Mia contemplated this, she realized she'd been standing still. She quickly swept up what she could, and then got her books, and left class. She walked to the bathroom, cleaning off her face and her shirt with paper towels and water. Now that she was clean, she felt much better. She walked outside and down the hallway, as she heard some people talking about her. "Can you believe that? She did it on purpose, the stupid bitch, she hit us all with it!"

"How rude!"

"Geez..."

She sniffled, and turned around. She'd be taking the long way around to band.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

As a man passed by a heap of rags on the sidewalk, he looked down at the pile in disgust. He pulled a piece of trash from his pocket, a gum wrapper it looked like, and threw it at the rags. It didn't move, and the man moved on, his umbrella shielding him from the pouring rain. Lightning flashed across the sky, as the pile of rags sighed, and pushed off the wrapper.

Ivan looked a wreck. About like he always did. He reflected on how he got here...

A long time ago, a wealthy trader in the area gave birth to a handsome son. He was so proud; the son had his mother's eyes, and his father's perfect blonde hair. The baby had grown into a short son, not strong, but strong willed. He'd grown up a wealthy child, but nontheless, a child who didn't splurge. He lived normally, wore normal clothes, and refused his father's offers to get a servant for him.

Because of his kindness and respect towards others, Ivan had been respected, even among the poorer classes. He'd given then money whenever he had the chance.

Then one night, he'd accidentaly used psynergy, and his father disowned him, threw him out. Nobody seemed to care all of a sudden. It had scarred the sensitive child for life: The people he loved and cared about, when they needed his help, would now, when he needed their's, ignore him.

His once handsome features were marred by the rags he wore as clothing. Many were falling off, giving him the look as if he were falling apart at the seams. His face was scratched in many places, he had cuts running down his arms, bruises everywhere. He was beaten almost nightly now by someone, anyone who hated adepts. His hair had turned a brownish color because of the dirt in his hair.

Another man approached him. Ivan was sitting on the ground, hugging his knees. He looked up at the man, slightly fearful. Was he going to hit him?

No. Apparently not, as the man reached down and handed him a dollar worth of coins. He grunted. "Don't expect this often kid. I'm just in a good mood today." The man grinned. Ivan remembered the man now; the smile tipped him off. He'd helped the man get a meal to eat many times. He smiled up at the man.

"Thank you very much sir." he said. His voice was hoarse, and it gave the impression that Ivan was growling, not talking. The man waved, and went on his way, back down the dreary rainsoaked street.

Ivan sighed slightly. That might get him some food later, but he really couldn't move right now. He was soaked to the bone, and felt sick. He probably was. He looked back down at the sidewalk, watching the rain rap-a-tap on the ground.

Then he heard a big group of footsteps. That didn't happen often, not down this steet, so he looked up immediately. He saw a group of boys and girls, not much older or younger than him (he couldn't tell which way it went). They spotted him, and gave a yell of excitement. "Look! It's that rich kid!"

"Sweet! Get im!"

Ah, shit. Another day, another beating. He could have blasted them with lightning, easily, but he would've been killed afterwords by the authorities.

Amazing, how justice worked out these days.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The ghost girl walked down the street to her job. Cars passed along the street, changing lanes to keep away from her. People crossed the street in order to stay away from her. She looked down at the sidewalk, since there was really nothing else to look at. Her blonde hair swung as she walked, and, pretty though she was, none of the boys in Lalivero who knew her secret would even look at her. She was officially out of bounds.

Sheba's blue skirt shifted each time she took a step. Her white shirt read, "We're people too!"

Apparently, nobody read her shirt.

Something hard caught her in the head. She fell to the ground, yelping in pain. She got up shakily to see that it had been a rock. She felt blood trickling down her face, along with salty tears. The blood seeped into her white shirt, staining it. As Sheba kept walking, she realized that she was only a few blocks from her job. Thank God.

Suddenly, she felt a hand go over her mouth. "Mmmmm-mmmm!" She squealed, trying to call for help, but then she heard _k-chk_, and "Keep quiet girl."

A gun. Pressed against her head.

Her eyes tearing up, she was pulled back into an alleyway by a man wearing a full face stocking cap, a cheap look-like-leather jacket, and jeans. The 9mm gun pressed against her head was black, and she was shaking in fear of it. And of the man. And what he could do to her.

He pressed her up against the side of the alley, taking his hand off of her mouth. He pointed the gun directly at her forehead, so she could see. She fell to her knees, as they buckled. "Gimme all yer money, righ' now."

She quiveringly said, "P-please... d-don't hurt m-me-"

"GIMME YER MONEY GODDAMNIT!" screeched the man.

She cringed, and tearfully said, "I-I don't have any m-money..."

The man's face went blank a moment, but then smiled. "Maybe we can take a peeky-boo to make sure, eh?" Sheba had no idea what he meant.

The man pulled her through a door into the building to the right. It was a squall little room, concrete floor, with a single overhead light and nothing else. The place smelled terrible. She stumbled in, and then he pushed her up against the wall, with his gun to the back of her head. Sheba stared straight ahead, at the wall. _Pleasedon'tkillmeohpleasedon'thurtmewhatdidIdopleaseleavemebe..._

Then she felt him tugging at her skirt. She squealed, trying to push off the wall. "NO! Don't touch me!"

But the man pressed the gun up against her head. "Don't struggle girlie... if you do what I want, it'll be over faster..."

She was sobbing now, completely shaking. She gave up, telling herself that maybe she could find another way out of this. The man yanked her skirt down off of her hips, and her legs were exposed to a sudden gust of air. The man whistled. "Nice legs..." She felt his hand rubbing along her panties, and then a squeeze. She shivered, and cried out in fear. The man snickered. "No money here..."

She felt the man run his hand down her thighs, as she hiccuped. "Sir...p-please d-d-don't do this to m-me... I'll d-do anything... p-please..."

The man pushed against her, and Sheba stiffened. She could feel his breath down her neck. She shook uncontrollablly. "Don't worry girlie... I won't do that. Your parents wouldn't give me any money for a girl if I did that."

She shivered. "B-but I don't have any parents..."

She froze. Her and her big mouth. The man laughed. "Your bad luck then!"

He yanked up on her shirt, pulling it off before Sheba even realized what he'd done. It exposed her bra, and the man pulled this up, over her breasts. "Oh-ho, what have we here?" he said happily. He grabbed the right one, and squeezed, earning a cry of fear from Sheba.

"PLEASE DON'T!" she cried. The man stopped, surprised by the outburst, but then he pressed the gun against her head again.

"Why shouldn't I? What, will the orphanage give me money for you?"

She shivered. Even if she did lie, it wouldn't matter. "N-no..."

The man looked surprised. He pushed her down onto the ground, flipping her onto her back. She tried hitting him, but he pinned her hands against the ground with one hand. He smiled. His other hand tossed away the gun, and then yanked her panties off completely. Sheba screamed now, desperate, but the man covered her mouth again. "Mmmmmm..." He coughed, then removed his hand. Sheba didn't cry out again. She saw no reason to fight. She was helpless...

The man unzipped his fly, and then said, "Before I start, why wouldn't they pay any money for you?"

She realized she could say one thing to frighten him away. She took a few breaths before saying it. She prayed to God it would work. "Because I'm an adept," she said.

Wow, that was fast.

The man got off of her immediately, fumbling for his gun. Well, it would have worked, but Sheba had regained enough of her wits to blast him with lightning, knocking him unconcious. She sniffled, then got up. But she was still scared. She sank back down to her knees, hugging herself, sobbing. She stayed that way until she calmed down, then she got dressed again, and shamefacedly started down the street again, stumblnig along in an anything but straight path.

When she got to work, she was fired, despite her story. Big surprise.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Picard couldn't believe this.

"Senator Blaine, your proposal hurts me. It hurts me deeply. How could you betray the trust of thousands of adepts worldwide by even thinking of something like this?"

The senator in question smiled, and stood up. "Senator Picard, I am bringing this law forth on this continent to make things the way they should be. Surely, after the Gaia's Hand incident, you can see why this legislation is needed?"

Picard coughed, and gulped down the rest of his water. His long blue hair waved, as his features hardened, his anger and frustration showing plainly. "Hardly, Senator. This incident is the first of it's kind in 250 years."

"Nontheless, a need has arisen for us to control adepts such as yourself!" exclaimed the short Senator Blaine, the top of his bald head gleaming. "This incident could only be controlled after the government sent in a special ops unit. Obviously, if any adept can control the earth's 4 elements to their own purposes, we need to be able to control them! They are a danger to human society."

Picard refilled his glass with water from his hand. "The fact you fail to see is that we are human society, just like you are, Senator. And that special ops unit was made up of 20 adepts. Why they were detained and killed afterwords is something the governmeny still has not answered for."

He put down his glass. "If I may, President?" The President turned to Picard.

"Certainly. I recognize, for a speech, the honorary Senator Picard of Lemuria."

"HAIL!" came an uproarious shout from the congregation of Senators, ableit halfhearted.

Picard started. "250 years ago, the aliance made up of both adepts and non-adepts tore down the society of monarchy that had been instilled for over 2000 years prior. The monarchies had become totalitarian, and crops were dying out. Revolution was inevitable. It was replaced with a universal decree of democracy, and thus, this very Senate began to convene." Applause sounded through the hall. It's high wooden walls and arched dome at the top were beautiful to look at. All through the windows, sunlight came raining down, like halos on the hall. The giant building took up a lot of space in the host town of Tolbi. The entire structure, made of bronze, wood, and marble, was a masterpiece of construction. The senators sat on either side of a pathway down the center, at the end of which the President sat (the other end was the entrance and exit), overseeing the proceedings. A balcony above allowed spectators and media to sit and watch.

"However, the past 250 years has been 250 years of anything but democracy," continued Picard. "The adepts, who helped overthrow the monarchies as much as anyone did, recieved the blame for it all, and were placed at the bottom of the ladder among peoples. Their once proud name was tarnished. Children were raised to hate them. They did nothing wrong, and only recently has any terrorist action taken place. But nontheless, many anti-adept laws have been passed. For example, an adept can earn a maximum of only $30,000 annually. If he or she earns more, then she must pay that directly to the government." He took a drink. "Frankly, this is unacceptable."

He coughed, and took another drink. He'd been talking for some time now. "Now you all know that adepts are human. Everybody knows this. The have been gifted with powers that most people don't have, and this was what you could not accept. This was hard to believe. No science can explain it, no principal can manipulate it, it can't be duplicated, and to be simple, you couldn't understand it. Thus, you feared it."

There was complete silence in the hall now. Picard smiled. "You all feared it. So you passed laws forbidding us to take action against the government in certain areas. Of course, my homeland, Lemuria, had long respected adepts, so these laws were not enacted there, and in certain other places as well. Many longtime holdings of adepts were filled with non-adepts, however, and became lost to adepts."

His features hardened again. "But then, when adepts tried to move to Lemuria to escape this persecution, you wouldn't let them. You forced them to stay, and passed laws to enforce your delcarations."

He paused a moment, to let this sink in. "Why did you do this? Simple." His face darkened, and his blue eyes flashed. "Your government couldn't live up to the promises it made. It had to charge taxes. It couldn't respond correctly to all nationalities. Everything law it enacted seemed to have something wrong hidden beside the good. The people were again driven to revolt. Or they almost did so, until you found the perfect scapegoat." He pointed at himself. "Adepts. We have weapons no one else does. You can't understand us. You can't stop us."

A senator in the front got up, his face red. "This is highly irregular! I move that he be forced to stop!" The other senators clamored for this as well, but the President shook his head. He slammed his gavel into the table, bringing order.

"No. He will be allowed to continue."

Picard smiled. "Thank you, your honor." He took a drink of water. Making progress. "And so, we arrive at the present day and age. You have brought forth this bill to be passed today, and I, currently, am 1 of only 9 votes against." He took one last drink of water. Time for the clinch. "And I bring forth a delcaration. If this law is passed, then the following regions will proclaim independance from the Democratic Republic of Weyard." An intake of breath around the entire pantheon. "Lemuria, including the islands east of the mainland of Gondowan and Angara. Lamaka, the desert region. Suhulla, the other desert. Just barely, by 1 vote, Vale, even through the discrimination against adepts there. Vault, of course, as well, along with Vale. Osenia. And last, but certainly not least, Tundaria. All of the areas, should this law be passed, will form the Republic of Old Weyard. Any peoples wishing to leave the newly made coutry may have exactly 14 days to do so, once the law is passed. And thus, the decision making, that is up to you."

Then he sat down, thoroughly pleased with himself. "I surrender the recognition of the President."

Another senator got up. "You realize that you threaten civil war?"

Picard rolled his eyes. "It is not a threat: it is a fact. You will either allow us coexistance, or we will gain our right through vicotry in war. Not all non-adepts think this law should be passed: Why else do you think that Vale was included here? It's adept population is only 15 percent."

The senator looked like he was ready to either pop, or explode. More likely the second one: he was quite fat. "You have just incited Civil War against us? How DARE you..."

"Not just him." came a voice from the back. Another senator stood. "I, Jonathan Lithe, also stand against you. I am a 'normal' human, as you say, and yet they've done nothing wrong. Lamaka stands behind them, and will defend their rights if needed. We would rather maintain this peace of 250 years, but conditions must be bettered, or action will be taken." He sat down. Picard sighed. Finally. He was wondering if they'd switched sides or something...

"Tolbi will not stand for this!" shoted another senator, presumeably from the city he'd mentioned. "The people of this city will not allow adepts to become our masters!"

Picard frowned. "When did I even say the word 'masters'? We simply want to be equal."

The man stamped his foot, a rather childish display. "You are equal. But you aren't human."

Picard was mad now. "Bullshit. We've been discriminated against since before I was born."

He drew back his sleeve, and people gasped at what they saw. Burn marks, and a huge scar down his arm. "I got these from some kids who thought it would be fun to torture the local adept. As you all know, I recieved some schooling in Tolbi, here. What wonderful children you've raised, senator."

At this direct insult, the senator exploded. "I WILL NOT HAVE THAT! TAKE THAT BACK YOU- YOU- you-..." He sat down, ashamed, but quivering in anger. Anther senator, seated beside the man, got up and came to his rescue.

"That is one incident! We will not be moved by a sob story!"

Picard motioned to a man in the back, and he opened the door to the back. A group of children came in to the room, guarded by adults in robes, obviously meaning that the adults were adepts. The children varied in age, from 10 to 15, about half girl and half boy. They were also dressed in robes.

The clothing was hardly something to gasp at. The appearance took care of that.

One of the boy's was missing an eye, and his arm had been sliced off. A girl's hair had been burned off her head. Another boy was missing both a leg and an arm. Another girl had been recently beaten. Bruises all over her exposed arms and face showed that. The audience sat back in absolute awe of what they saw.

Picard said, "Here are 16 children whom have partaken in 'sob stories'. Would you like some more?" The senator sat down angrily. "As I said before, your reluctance to allow us eqaulity is not our fault at all. Brutalization against adepts is nothing new. Brutalization against non-adepts is."

The President banged his gavel."It is time for the vote, as the alloted 120 minutes for discussion have lapsed by. Any closing arguments?" None. "Then vote please."

Keypads came up in front of the senators, as they pressed either abstain, yea or nea. They'd find out the results soon. And sure enough, here they came...

Amazing, thought Picard, how things worked out.

The President announced, somewhat surprised, "And the results are the following. 10 voted for passing this law. 10 people abstained. 10 people voted against passing this law." He took a moment, then finished. "Further discussion will take place tommorrow."

About 30 minutes later, Picard was walking home, when a most unwanted man caught up with him. "Senator Picard!" It was Senator Blaine. Picard turned to see him.

"What do you want?" he asked angrily.

"I just wanted to tell you something. Something that will trouble you deeply. I just wanted to be the one to tell you."

Picard raised an eyebrow. "What is that?" he asked.

The senator smiled, an evil tint to his eyes now. "That vote was... changed a bit."

Picard suddenly went stiff, as seemingly innocent bystanders around him exposed guns pointed right at him. "We faked that vote, since it was televised, so that people won't know why it's happening to them tommorrow. Adepts all over the world will be rounded up."

Blaine laughed. "And you're the first!"

Picard sniggered. "You seem to think that I'm going to come quietly, yes? Well, I have no intention of coming quietly."

Blaine laughed harder. "Neither did the others. But we killed them, all the same."

Picard was shocked. "The other senators? You KILLED them? You really ARE a monster Blaine..."

Blaine smiled. "I must become a demon to defeat demons."

"Whatever you say." A sudden gleaming spread over Picard, striking the gunmen quickly, and freezing the guns. When they pulled the triggers, they didn't go off.

Picard grinned. "You lose." He punched Blaine first, then splashed water all over the other 6 gunmen, immobilizing them. He then rushed past shocked bystanders, who had seen, if not heard, the whole thing. They wouldn't believe him anyway.

He needed to get back to Lemuria. Quickly. What was faster than a jet plane? Not a hell of a lot, and Picard didn't know how to teleport. As soon as he was on board, the flight to Lemuria began. He prayed to God he got there in time to warn the rest of the nations about this.


	2. And We All Fall Down

As Isaac's father switched off the television set, Jenna and Felix stared at the blank screen. "They're seriously going to pass it." said Felix. "SHIT."

Jenna was shaking badly, so afraid of what would happen to them if that law was passed. Isaac sat beside her on the couch, with Felix on the other side. The inside of their house was normal for that of an adept's: small, clustered, and drab. The only piece of furniture was the couch (which they were lucky to have), and they were the only adepts in the city to have a television set that worked all the time. The brown walls showed signs of rust (the walls and the floor was all metal) and the floor wasn't much better.

Isaac gulped, and put an arm around her shaking body. She froze and turned to Isaac. "I-Isaac...?"

He smiled at her. "It'll be alright, okay? That Picard guy knew what he was talking about." Jenna looked at him a moment, then looked away, and then smiled.

"Thanks Isaac..." She leaned over into him slightly, causing him to blush slightly. Felix raised an eyebrow, and looked at Isaac funny. Isaac looked back at him.

_What? _Thought Isaac.

That. Shot back Felix with his eyes.

_Huh?_

You know what I'm thinking, said the eyes.

_Oh... about that... _

Yeah. You are SO dead. The glare caused Isaac to cringe slightly.

"Kyle, it's time for them to go to bed!" came a call from Dora, Isaac's mother.

Kyle grinned. "She's right you know. School tomorrow. To bed with all of you..." Felix and Jenna started off towards their own room. They'd been taken in ever since their parents were killed in an anti-adepts demonstration. It had happened long ago, when Jenna was only 8. Isaac walked down the small hallway, taking care to duck under a pipe going across the ceiling. He walked into his room, got dressed for bed, and then he lay awake for some time.

Why were people trying to pass these laws? What had he ever done to them? What would happen to them all?

More specifically, what would happen to Jenna?

As his worries consumed him, he fell into a fitful sleep, as many other adepts were that night.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The care center assistant switched off the TV, as many of the adepts gathered in a corner. Justin and Meg, Mia's two younger friends, wore scared faces. "M-Mia... what's going to happen?"

Mia could give them little comfort. "I don't know..." She rubbed her temples. She sighed, then looked at the two with the most confident smile she could offer. "I'm sure it will all be fine. Don't worry guys." She gave them a thumbs up, as they were ushered away to bed by another assistant. They could stay up a while longer.

"Nice poker face there. What do you really think?"

Mia turned to see a handsome boy, about 3 years older than her, about ready to leave the center, whose red hair and brilliant blue eyes clashed, and his red shirt with jeans seemed to complete the clash. Mia stared at the ground. "I think... exactly what I told them."

He sighed, sitting down beside her on the rug. "Mia, you're a bad liar."

She smiled weakly. "Yeah... I guess..." She paused a moment. "I really don't know what to think. Picard was so good at debating, but the other's inflexible opinion seemed enough to hold it back, you know? I don't know what to think anymore..."

The boy smiled. "Me too. Me too," he repeated. An assistant appeared in the doorway.

"Get to bed you two!" Mia sighed, getting up.

"Bye." The boy waved goodbye, on his way to the boy's rooms. Mia got dressed in her nightgown, and then got into bed. She tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

What did tomorrow hold? Did she even want to know? What would happen to Meg and Justin? What would happen to her? What would happen to all the other adepts? She tossed and turned until she finally fell to sleep.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The pile of rags hadn't moved since it's earlier beating. Ivan was still on the sidewalk, hugging his knees. He didn't think about much except who had caused him the pain he had now. He'd known many of them very well.

Joshua, his friend from down the street. They'd often raced to see who was faster. Today, Joshua had kicked him in the gut as Ivan lay crying on the ground.

Eli, a tramp whom Ivan had helped on multiple occasions. He'd given Ivan a black eye.

Joy, a girl whom Ivan had thought liked him from down the street. Amazing how fast a guy's stock could change. Ivan was lucky he still qualified as a guy: She kicked him hard right in the balls.

Eryn, Joy's kid sister. The others held him still so the 8 year old could have some fun.

Jerry, a kid from Ivan's old school. Ivan had helped him on his geography tests every now and again. Jerry had been the one to finally end the torture by punching his lights out.

They'd all been people that Ivan had known. They all hated him. Even after what he'd done for them. Even after being his friend for years.

Just because he was an adept.

He'd made a decision a long time ago. He would never use psynergy again. In his own eyes, he was a monster.

He hated himself.

As the rain continued to lash at his face, his own tears joined the rain, as blood from his wounds trickled off down the sidewalk.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Sheba sat in the corner of her slum home, her eyes glazed over, not focusing on anything. She was still traumatized from what had happened earlier that day.

She had her head full of problems. She had lost her job. She almost got raped. She'd used psynergy on a man, and whether or not it was self defense, she would be blamed for the whole incident if they found out. And now news that there was a freaky law out there to get adepts.

She felt sick. Sweat glistened on her brow, and her throat was dry. She felt bile rise in her throat, and turned to the side as she suddenly threw up. She coughed, and then threw up again. She leaned against the rotting wood wall, and breathed heavily for a moment. Then she coughed again, and felt the strength leave her muscles.

She fell over onto the ground, thankfully missing her own vomit. She was crying, which hurt to do because of her dry throat. _What am I going to do?_

She couldn't do a hell of a lot.

She felt herself shaking from cold, even though it wasn't very cold. After all, this was Lalivero. Something was definately wrong with her.

She never went to sleep that night.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Picard was on the phone to his embassy in Lemuria. The capital city of Luminia, established only 100 years ago, was a fairly small capital. From above in the plane, it looked small compared to cities on the horizon. He paused speaking as a frantic voice came back over the cellular phone. His face changed from frantic, to even more frantic.

"What do you mean you can't contact them!"

"He... he what...?"

"He wouldn't... surely not. He's an adept himself."

"He had help? Who...?"

"Oh... SHIT."

"So what are we going to do?"

"We're just going to LET THIS FUCKING HAPPEN!"

Picard sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Look, I'm sorry, but we can't just ABANDON them!"

"Ok, so they'll just 'find out' when they all get rounded up, plus they won't have military support... that means that Vault and Vale are going to fall quickly. Lamaka and Suhulla won't be that easy, and Lemuria's fine, obviously. Tundaria is untouchable, and Osenia is fine. So we'll just-"

"Good. I'll lead that. Fine?"

"Good then. Have my transport and the fleet ready when I land."

"Very good sir. Over and out."

He closed the phone. This just might work, but if not, then what of the war? There would be no war if this first operation didn't work. It required many chances of luck to fall their way, and so far, that hadn't happened. But if it did... if it DID...

Then this was going to be a far different war then Weyard had ever seen before.

With new information in his head, righteous justice in his heart, and a smirk on his face, Picard landed in Lemuria, and in his mind, the war for the fate of the world began.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

And so the next morning, it began for the others as well.

Isaac waited at the bus stop, his plain blue t-shirt whipping in the high winds. The sky was grey, and suggested a storm later today. Garet stood beside him, in a red hoody. Jenna was rather subdued for normal, and she too had a red hoody on. Felix had a yellow shirt on, and was the only one of the four not wearing jeans, with sweats on.

The others knew that they were going to be humiliated again. It hadn't been the first time it had ever happened yesterday, just the first time it was so potent, and had such great effect on them.

As they waited in silence, a most abnormal thing happened: the bus was on time. The man signaled for them to get on quickly, though he didn't scream at them like he had yesterday. His throat had bruised, Felix saw. Excellent.

Classmates, all towards the front of the bus, glared at them. However, there was one sympathetic face, a familiar one. This face was towards the back of the bus, amazing really. Felix went towards the back first, being the oldest and the strongest of the adepts. If anyone wanted the other 3, they'd go through him. After him, Jenna. Then Isaac, and last, Garet. They protected Jenna this way, and based on news stories, she didn't discount it as unecessary. You either did this, or as a girl adept, you got mauled.

The sympathetic face belonged to a girl, probably a freshman, who turned to look at Jenna. "I-... I'm sorry about yesterday... that wasn't right."

Jenna looked up into the girl's grey eyes. For a moment, it looked like she was indifferent, but then she smiled, her own eyes tearing up. Finally, somebody else understood. "Thank you. What's your name?"

The girl smiled. "Raine. I'm sorry I didn't say anything in class yesterday, but I didn't want to..." she stopped. Then she screeched as a boy behind her pulled her hair.

"Adept lover," he spat at her. He let go of her hair and moved forward a chair. Everyone else already had. She sighed sadly.

"Is it always like this for you?" she asked.

The others nodded. She looked sad. "Well, I'm sorry. I'm glad to have met you guys."

The rest of the bus ride, they got to know Raine, and Raine learned about what it was like to be an adept. Raine also had first hour with them, so they went to English, with a much more friendly teacher. If she hated adepts, at least Mrs. Greenleaf didn't humiliate them or tolerate discrimination in her class.

It happened right as class began.

A huge crash was heard as a huge booted foot knocked the door off it's hinges. A soldier, with a seemingly huge rifle stepped in. He was clothed in army greens, they noted in fear, as he pointed the gun directly at the adepts' table. "GET UP RIGHT NOW!" He yelled. "RIGHT THE HELL NOW!"

They immediately got up, fearful for their lives. They had no idea what was going on. More soldiers poured into the room, nonentities. Unkowns. Nobodies. They had no identity. They were just drones doing a job.

One of the soldiers put a hand on Jenna's right arm, then twisted it behind her back. "AHHH!" she cried out in pain. He cuffed her hands together. A hand gripped his wrist. Felix glared at him.

"No," he said.

The whole room turned to look at Felix. The man looked at him incredulously, then tried to hit him. Felix shielded himself, then slammed his fist into the man's stomach.

Then there was noise.

A sudden noise. Everything had stopped but the noise.

Then the flash of the muzzle. The red. Felix's shoulder exploded inot a spray of red as three hollowpoint rounds slammed through his skin, through his bone, and out the other side.

Jenna's heart almost visibly shattered. She sank to her knees. "FEEEEELLLIIIIIIIX! NOOOOOOOOO!" she screamed. One of the soldiers tried to make her get up again, but she just hugged Felix on the ground. "Nononononononono Felix nooooo..." The man who tried to get her up pulled out a pistol, but Isaac stepped between them.

He begged the man, "Please sir... don't... please..."

The man looked at him, then motioned. "Get up."

Isaac got up, voluntarily, and the man cuffed his hands as well. Garet had also been cuffed, though he just stared at Felix, who was hurting badly. He was breathing hard, shaking in pain. Isaac turned to look as well. _Felix... why did you do that...? You knew it wouldn't work! _Because he protects her. Because he was chivalrous. Because he had to.

It didn't make it any easier to deal with.

Jenna, still on the ground, was crying to her hearts content, which was quite a lot. Since the boys were both being held about three feet away from Jenna, Raine shakily walked over to Jenna, and put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "Jenna..." she said. Jenna looked up, still crying. It didn't really help much, but just knowing somebody cared helped a little. Jenna got to her knees, still shaking and crying, unable to get up.

One soldier grabbed Raine and put a gun to her head. "GET UP NOW! NOW! OR SHE DIES!" Raine's eyes went wide with terror, and Jenna stared at her wide eyed.

"Oh God... Raine..." She got up hurriedly, and one of the other men grabbed her. The man holding Raine shoved her down onto the floor, who looked up at him fearfully.

"MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!" shouted the soldier. The three adepts were pushed down the hallway, Jenna being barely able to walk. She tumbled along, aided by yells from the soldiers.

They were sheperded into a black sedan, and a long drive began. Where they were going, they had no idea. Would they bring Felix with them? They hoped so.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Mia looked at her paper. She looked away. She forced herself to look back.

_What is 3+2(x+45)90?_

She sighed. She'd been so busy lately that, simple though this was, she couldn't remember what to do. She hated this. Her plain light blue shirt went well with her khaki jeans. She looked positively cute.

But nobody looked at her. Normal.

Then suddenly there was a huge noise outside. "What the hell?" exclaimed somebody. The students ran to the windows, and gasped. Mia tried to see over them, and climbed up on a table in order to do so.

She gasped as well. Surrounded by soldiers were a group of kids. Meg and Justin included.

They had guns pointed at them. "Good God..." whispered Mia.

Some of the students turned to Mia laughing. "Looks like we finally got rid of you!" said one of them enthusiasticly. Mia's eyes went wide.

One of the adepts broke free, and blew wind at a big group of soldiers, sending them flying. He then ran away towards the street. Mia felt her heart raise. _Keep going! You'll make it! FLY FREE!_

The boy's head exploded.

Dead.

A soldier burst through the door to the outside. Pointed his gun at Mia. "HANDS UP!" he yelled. Mia obeyed immediately, getting off the table. The man ran over to her, and pushed her down over the table, cuffing her hands behind her. He then forced her outside to where the other adepts were. They were all afraid. All except the bravest were shaking. Most were crying as well.

She tried to go with Meg and Justin, two poor little children without a friend in the world but each other. But she was pushed into another car, with people she didn't know. She got one last glimpse of them, both crying, shoved into a black van. Was it the last time she'd ever see them? Was it?

Once inside, emotion exploded from her, as she cried she heart out.

Down the road, the car began it's journey towards the southeast.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Ivan was scared. Very scared.

But he had no idea what the hell was going on.

People in the streets were in civil war. Adepts were fighting soldiers. Both were dying. Normal citizens were caught in the crossfire.

He shielded his face as a missle exploded into a wall of earth. The earth slammed into the person who'd launched the missle, killing him. Back to back were a Venus adept and a Mars adept, throwing flames and earth everywhere. People screamed, as a building toppled to the ground, destroying half a city block. Helicopters flew overhead.

Ivan ran along the sidewalk, trying to get away from the fighting. He turned back to see the Mars's adepts body suddenly fall. The Venus adept turned to look, and fell victim to a grenade. Ivan turned to keep himself from becoming sick.

"THERE'S ONE! IT'S THE ONE HE TOLD US ABOUT!"

"HANDS UP!" 

"NOW!"

He couldn't be sure if it was him they were talking about, so he kept running.

It had been.

He tripped over a stick, and heard guns being fired. Bullets whizzed over him, and he could feel the air move. He collapsed. He looked back to see men pointing guns at him ready to fire. He threw up one hand on the ground. "NOOOOO! NOOOO! DON'T! PLEASE!"

The men ran to him, still pointing guns. They pulled his left arm behind him, getting a cry of pain from him, as they pushed him away towards a car. _What the hell is this?_ thought Ivan. He hadn't heard the news, apparently.

He was pushed into a black van, and it sped off, as he wheezed in pain of his aching shoulder. They'd twisted it too hard.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Sheba was still where she had been the previous day. She still felt sick. She still was traumatized.

She lay down in the dirt floor, breathing awkwardly. What now? She had no job. She had no friends. She had nothing.

Not even a reason to live.

So why not die?

Surely, why not? Wouldn't it be better to just DIE? It would be so much EASIER than living. If she wasn't here, nobody would even care. Heck, some people might even be happier. Maybe her dying would be a good thing.

She heard something that didn't belong. A sort of _tmptmptmptmp_, like a bunch of boots.

And then some voices. Those very rarely made sounds around here. "Search every house, bring the occupants out here. Got it! OUT!"

The sounds dispersed. What was that? People come to find her? Why? Certainly not for job reasons. She didn't make enough money to pay taxes even. It was rude of them to come out here at this time of day anyway. She was busy dying, and that required no audience, and in fact, demanded that she not have one.

The sounds got closer. She heard cries of surprise and pain, and then another sound closer. Doors opening and more boots.

Then her door was forced open. There was a soldier there, but for some reason, she smiled.

The soldier said, "GET UP!"

But I can't, she wanted to say. Another soldier came in. "She looks sick man."

The other shook his head, handing the other man his gun. "I don't give a damn. Just get her out of here, and into a car."

He picked her up bridal style, and carried her past other slum houses. NO! she wanted to say. I can die on my own, thank you very much. But he didn't put her down, not until he got into a car. She couldn't see what it was, just the grey interior cieling, as she felt the car began to move. She closed her eyes, there, laying on the back seat. Die... she willed it to happen. Would it? She hoped so.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

And so it happened. Vault and Vale, as predicted by Picard, were lost. However, a mission to turn the early tide was brewing in Lemuria.

Suhulla withstood a huge barrage of airstrikes, before slamming the nearby Lalivero militia stockholds. They destroyed the entire base, much to the surprise of the startled city folk.

Lamaka withdrew to the inner desert, daring Weyard to come after them. They did, but never found the Lamakans, and many soldiers died in the heat.

Halfhearted naval attacks on Tundaria, Osenia, and Lemuria were turned back easily. Halfhearted, because they knew they would fail.

So the war began, with mixed fortunes for both sides.

The cars all arrived the next morning. Arrived where, you ask? A little bit southeast of Vale and Vault. What was there?

A miniaturezed, wire fenced, soldier guarded, horrifying version of hell on earth, that's what.


	3. Revealed

Felix was thrown out of his sedan, his handcuffs having been taken off, and soldiers pushed him into a long line of other adepts within the fenced in compound. Guard towers were everywhere, soldiers with guns stood at attention, and helicopters circled overhead in the bleak gray sky.

SHIT. HIS ARM HURT LIKE SHIT. They'd taken out the bullets en route, and given him a little something for the pain, but it STILL HURT LIKE SHIT.

They adepts were all cycling through a small room, he noticed. He was shoved that way, and was shoved some pants and a shirt, told to put them on. Their gray, boring color seemed to dull his spirit away. He was already afraid for his life, but now, he felt even more afraid just seeing this place.

He quickly changed into the gray clothes, his other ones being tossed into a furnace. Honestly, for him, these clothes were an improvement; they weren't bloodstained. They were some sort of cotten, not soft, but not overly rough, probably good for whatever work they'd be doing. As he was walking around, seemingly free to wander for a few moments, he saw a soldier carrying around a blond haired girl. He made brief eye contact before shying away.

Bad decision.

"Hey! Hey you! Come 'ere!" Felix turned quickly and went to the man, not wanting to get shot at again. That was still fresh in his memory, and topped the list of things he didn't want to do again. The man shoved the girl into Felix's arms, and since he was injured, he almost dropped her until he got a firm hold on her, holding her bridal style. She wore the same outfit he did, except her's was a little more skintight. Now that he looked at her, he noticed, her face was pale, and her eyes were purple! Kind of cool... but she was also shaking, like she was cold or something. But it was hot out here!

The soldier broke him back to reality. "You take her wit ya to thar!" He pointed to an area where there was a podium. Lots of adepts there were in lines of eight people. He walked over towards the area, when suddenly the girl woke up. She blinked, looked around, her eyes half open, and then she looked up into his eyes for the first time.

"Who... are... you...?" she asked. Her voice was fragile, she could hardly speak. She shook violently, as Felix layed her down on the ground next to a cabin looking sort of thing.

"I'm Felix." he responded, looking at her. "Are you okay?"

"Doesn't... matter... I'm... going... to... die..."

Felix furrowed his brow. "No you're not!"

She looked like she was trying to laugh. "Why... not?"

Felix thought a moment. What could he say to convince her? He wasn't a doctor...

He grinned.

He held her hand, squeezing it. _I'm here._

He smiled down at her, his eyes shining. "Because I said so."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Sheba listened for an answer. _That's right! I'm going to die! And then everybody can be happy._

"Because I said so."

_...What?_ "But... I... want... to..."

Felix looked surprised. "Dying is all bad. Not a good thing to do."

She shook her head, although it hurt her to do it. "No... one... likes... me...better... to... die..."

Felix grabbed her hand and sqeeuzed again. "_I_ like you. You can be my friend! Okay?"

Sheba looked into his eyes a moment._He cares about me..._ "Okay... I... won't... die..."

He grinned down at her. "Good. What's your name?"

"Sheba..."

"Where ya from?"

"Lalivero..."

"Cool. We have to go over there." He pointed to her left, though she couldn't see exactly what was over there. "Can you walk, Sheba?"

"N-no..."

"Okay then, upsie-daisy!"

He picked her up gently, and she blushed unvoluntarily. _Who is this guy? He cares about me... I have a friend. _She smiled up at him, as they made their way to the assembly area. He smiled down at her. "You look kind of sick Sheba. Are you feeling well?"

Now that he mentioned it, she felt terrible. She couldn't move her arms and legs, heck, she couldn't FEEL her arms and legs, and her shaking had only gotten worse. Felix was warm, and helped a little bit, but not all that much. "N-no..." she stuttered.

Felix looked concerned now. "'Kay then, we'll just find someone who can help you."

As Sheba looked up into the strong brown eyes, she again blushed involuntarily. _Why... do I feel..._

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Mia walked around. Her wrists stung from the way the men had ripped off her handcuffs. She'd walked around sulkily, and had been horrified when they wanted her to dress into some wierd grey clothes. However, it was mandatory, so she was forced to hand over her neat outfit. She had treasured it. Oh well.

Her sad face was echoed by many of the adepts standing around. None of them seemed to be anywhere near happy. So as she walked, her world turned into a grey abyss of no feeling. She looked down at the ground, her face the very embodiment of hopelessness.

It was a little bit into her walk through this horrid abyss that she bumped into a purple haired girl, who stuttered an apology. Mia said, "I-it was m-my fault..."

One of the patrolling soldiers turned to the two, and said, "Haven't you two found a group yet!"

Mia looked at him blankly, as did the other girl. The soldier sighed. "We couldn't make an announcement, this place isn't done being built yet. Get into groups of eight within the hour. I wouldn't be the odd ones out."

Mia gulped. The other girl asked, "What happens to them?"

The soldier smiled, and pointed to his gun. "We only have so much space you know... I'd hurry if I were you."

Mia quickly turned to the girl. "W-we can start a g-group, r-right?"

"Y-yeah... I'm Feizhi, a Jupiter adept." responded the girl. Feizhi wore the same gray shirt and gray pants that Mia did, and her long purple hair, down to the small of her back, was drawn up in a ponytail. She pointed into the crowd. "Your name's Mia. Cmon, let's go. We can get introduced properly later."

Mia was discomforted by the fact that she knew this, but her reason came back: she can read my mind. Ok.

_Please don't read my mind._

"Why not?"

_... It's... it feels... I can't explain it. Just please don't._

"Ok..." sighed Feizhi, as she withdrew herself from Mia's mind. Mia sighed.

"I'm sorry... it just... I..."

Feizhi smiled. "It's fine, really. Most people are the same way."

Mia smiled back. They went looking for adepts, but most were already in groups, and they needed to find somebody. They began to get frantic, looking for somebody, ANYBODY to join their group. They both didn't want to die. They began to shake with fear, as they felt time growing short. They hadn't been given a deadline of course. It was just a feeling that was growing on them, a feeling they could hinder, stop, or run away from. It overwheled them.

"Help! Can somebody help?"

Mia looked over, hoping to see people to join the group, and saw one blond haired girl and a brown haired guy next to a cabin, sitting in the dirt. The girl looked pale, and she was shaking. The ponytail boy frantically looked around for someone to help, but people either just walked past, or looked at her, and said sadly that they didn't know how to heal. 

Apparently, Mercury adepts were a rarity around here.

Mia and Feizhi walked over quickly. "What's wrong?"

The boy looked up at them sadly. "I don't know. When I met her earlier, she couldn't walk on her own, but she could talk and she knew what was going on. But then, she just suddenly went stiff. I think she's sick. PLEASE... I can't heal... or... my healing doesn't work. I tried. You've got to help me..."

He looked back at the girl desparingly, who shook like there was an earthquake happening. Mia didn't know much about healing, just the basics. The people at the care center taught her what she knew. She looked at Feizhi. "Can you tell me what she's thinking? It might help." Mia knelt down beside the girl, and Feizhi did too.

Feizhi nodded, and concentrated. She closed her eyes, holding up a finger, saying, "One moment." She stayed this way a moment, then opened her eyes, put down her hand, and said, "She's cold. Very very cold. That's all she thinks. Well... that and... uh..." she looked at the boy. "Never mind."

The boy looked at her in confusion, but then looked sadly back at her. "Can you help her?" he asked.

Mia nodded. "I think so. Give me a few minutes..."

She closed her eyes, and her hands started to glow. _K-CHK._

"STOP NOW," Came a voice. Mia's glowing hands stopped at once, as she stiffened in fear. Feizhi whiped around, to see a soldier with his rifle muzzle near Mia's head. "STAND UP. HANDS UP."

Mia stood quickly, tears coming to her eyes. _I was just trying to heal... _she thought despairingly.

The soldier said, "You aren't allowed to use that here. Not at all."

Feizhi spoke up. "She was just healing! That's- eep!" The soldier silenced her with a glare.

Mia shook, her hands up, her back still to the soldier. She almost didn't want to breathe without his permission. He had a gun. Guns. Guns killed people, most notably anything that used psynergy. Don't use psynergy, stay alive. Right? Right. Good.

Feizhi spoke up once more, this time, quieter. "S-sir, she was just trying to make sure the girl could work..."

The man looked at her. "What?"

Feizhi continued. "She obviously can't work like that. Please, PLEASE, just let her heal the girl. Hold the gun to her neck if you have to, but PLEASE, let her heal her."

The man looked at her suspiciously. Then he yelled to another soldier to come over and cover him. He did, pointing his gun directly at Feizhi, who hugged her knees, now experiencing horror too.

Mia put her hand on the girls head, kneeling again. "Ply..." she whispered. A soft blue light spread from her hand to the rest of the girl's body. The girl heaved a sigh, then sagged, and peaceful breathing, soft snoring she realized, could be heard. The boy practically whooped for joy.

"THANKS!" he said. The soldiers, grumbling, left, back to patrolling duty. Mia looked greatfully at Feizhi.

"Thanks a lot... really..." she said to the smiling Feizhi.

"I can read his mind, right? I just cue into his sensitive side."

"They HAVE one?"

"...Sometimes," giggled Feizhi. The boy looked over at them.

"Who are you two?"

Mia let Feizhi go first. "I'm Feizhi. I'm from Xian. Jupiter adept."

Mia then said, "I'm Mia. I'm from Imil, and I'm a Mercury adept."

The boy smiled. "Thanks. I'm Felix, from Vale. I'm a Venus adept," he said. He pointed to the girl. "She's Sheba, from Lalivero."

Sheba moved slightly, then streched, yawning. She looked up, and was surprised to see the two new faces. Feizhi stared at her intently for a moment, and then Sheba matched the stare. Mia was confused as to what was going on until Felix furrowed his brow. He was confused too. _Oh... mind speaking._

Yup.

_HEEEY! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!_

"It's not me! Uh... whups..." said a sheepish Feizhi, giggling.

_ALL OF YOU! OUT!_

Ok...

Feizhi looked at her sheepishly. "Sorry."

Sheba smiled at Mia. "We were just doing some catching up. And speaking of that," she said, turning to Felix. "Thanks for helping me get my spirit back." She pecked him on the cheek, while Feizhi and Mia stared blankly.

Felix turned crimson, while Sheba giggled. The other two got up, telling the others they had to find four more people. "Let's get started then," said Felix, as he helped the still limping Sheba along.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Isaac and the others walked dejectedly around, looking for any sign of Felix. They'd all but given up, after failing to find him almost two hours into their search. They hadn't even seen a ponytail yet. Except on a couple of very offended girls who had given Garet what he had coming.

Jenna seemed to be not of the world. She wasn't really there. When Isaac asked her a question, he had to shake her to get her to realize he'd said something. "S-sorry... what'd you say Isaac?" she asked. Her mind was clearly elsewhere.

Isaac smiled weakly. "Shouldn't we find a group to get with? We don't have much time."

Jenna looked up at him, not comprehending for a moment, then nodded. "Y-yeah..."

Isaac helped her get up. She started walked forward, but she was so out of it that she stumbled and tripped. Isaac caught her, just inches off the ground. She blushed slightly, as he helped her back to her feet. "S-sorry... I-I...I-"

Isaac smiled at her. "It's okay, Jenna." He helped her along, holding her hand, helping her to step around on the uneven terrain. She smiled over at him.

Garet of course resented this. How come ISAAC always got to hold her hand? He grumbled about something, then noticed a single boy running around. "Hey! HEY!" he called. The boy looked over, and saw them. He walked over. Garet asked, "Need a group?"

"Yeah..." he answered. "Ivan. Kalay. Jupiter."

Garet performed the introductions for his side, and then they moved along through the crowds. Isaac and Ivan and Jenna talked about stuf that was happening.

"... and then they just threw me in the car. Shit my shoulder hurts...," groaned Ivan. Isaac sympathized with him.

"Yeah, they just barged in at school!" he said.

"That sucks," said Ivan.

And then Garet saw him. Or thought he did. He was about to call out to him, when he saw who was with him. Oh boy.

Jenna wasn't going to like this.

He was in the middle of deciding whether to say "Hi" or not, when Jenna saw instead, and made the decision for him. Isaac pulled Ivan back, who had a question in his eyes. Isaac looked at him sternly, shook his head, and waited.

Jenna was about to explode.

"FELIX! YOU STUPID IDIOT!"

She ran over towards her obviously shocked brother, and smacked him, in front of everybody there.

"I LOOK FOR YOU FOR TWO GODDAMN HOURS, AND I FIND YOU HERE, JUST FINE, WITH A BUNCH OF GIRLS! YOU IDIOT LADIES MAN! I HATE YOU!"

She stalked away, with the girls surrounding him looking shocked. Felix ran after Jenna, stuttering excuses, as the blond haired girl Felix had been helping stumbled a moment until the blue haired girl helped her stand up, the blond leaning a bit on the blue.

Isaac sighed, and walked over to the girls. "Translation: Do you want to be in our group?"

The purple haired one grinned. "Sure."

They conducted introductions (Feizhi, Jupiter; Sheba, Jupiter; Mia, Mercury.) And then they introduced themselves. (Isaac, Venus; Garet, Mars; Jenna, Mars; Felix, Venus; Ivan, Jupiter.) After about ten minutes, the siblings came back, with Jenna crying and Felix soothing her. Jenna was extremely emotional right now, and not to be reckoned with. Felix and her whispered to each other for a while, before Jenna stopped crying. The others discussed how they'd been taken here, and tried to decide what they were going to be doing.

However, at that moment, a loud voice rang out over an intercom. "ATTENTION! QUIET PLEASE! AN ANNOUNCEMENT IS ABOUT TO BE MADE!"

All the adepts throughout the entire area stopped talking. They would get to know who was behind all this. What was going to happen to them.

Would they WANT to know? Probably not.

A blue haired man stepped up to the podium. He had long, flowing blue hair, down to his waist. He glared down at the assembly, smiling to himself. His blue rainsuit and umbrella borught grumbles from some of those in the crowd.

He started, "Hello. I am called Alex. I am your head administrator. When you see a soldier, or anyone in a white uniform, you are to address them as "sir" or "ma'am". We are not going to show you respect. You do not deserve it."

He snickered. "Indeed, we are those who deserve it most of all. But never mind that."

He coughed, and began anew. "The white uniformed men should arrive within the hour, just for your information. Here, at Central Adept Holding Center, you will do work. Simple as that. More often than not, manual labor. If you don't work, you will be shot. And, just to add a little but of spice," he said, smiling evilly, "If you refuse to work, or can't work, the rest of your eight man team dies with you."

Complete silence. _Oh my God..._ was the resounding thought in all their minds.

Alex said, "Now let their be no confusion: You have rights. No soldiers can rape women. No soldier can frame you. No soldier can shoot you for fun. Any of this can be reported directly to me."

He turned to leave, but then stayed a moment. "One last thing. Rebellion would be very stupid. If anyone try's to rebel, and escape..."

And his eyes glinted with evil. "Everyone here dies. EVERYONE."

The muslces in some of the adepts who tensed them in anger went slack. There was nothing they could do. They were all powerless. They had powers nobody else had, but they were powerless.

Irony has a sense of humor, say some.

Other's say it is just cruel.

Make your own decision.

Another man, one with a white uniform, said, "GET IN SINGLE FILE LINES! WITH YOUR TEAM! THEN WAIT TO BE TAKEN TO YOUR CABIN!"

While the hundreds of adepts hurried to do as they were told, the thunder rolled across the sky, and the rain that had threatened the earth since Isaac and friends were captured the day previous fell to earth, soaking the adepts and those guarding them.

As they were marched to their cabin, the eight adepts, Isaac, Felix, Garet, Ivan, Mia, Sheba, Feizhi, and Jenna, all thought of their futures.

They saw pain. Pain and death.

And their hope broke, like a fragile glass piece dropped to the ground below. It shattered into a thousand small pieces.

And as the rain fell, and lightning roared across the sky, the tears of many adepts joined it in falling to the ground, and their tears became as their shattered hope, small glistening pieces of their broken hope.


	4. Storm Rising

By the time they got back to their cabin ("NUMBER 103!" shouted the soldier, as he slammed the door shut), the girls were all crying. The boys couldn't bring themselves to cry, so they made do with just forlorn looks.

The inside of the wooden cabin wasn't much better than expected. No floor, just dirt, 4 bunk beds, with 1 sheet per bed, and even pillows. Pillows filled with sand, anyway. Better than nothing.

The adepts just stood for nearly an hour. Just staring at each other. The rain lashed at the cabin, leaks in the ceiling becoming obvious now, as water poured in, soaking the beds. The girls had stopped crying now, and were simply standing, shuddering of the coming days, and what was to come. Felix comforted Sheba, while Mia and Feizhi seemed to be assuring each other that everything was going to be alright. Jenna was being comforted by Isaac, probably only because Felix was too busy with Sheba to notice him doing it. Otherwise, he'd have beaten the crap out of Isaac.

Garet and Ivan sat dejectedly in two opposing corners of the cabin, Garet angry, and Ivan scared. Ivan had always been a loner, so he couldn't bring himself to speak. He just hugged his knees and stared at the wall. Garet looked like he wanted to punch something, but seeing nothing there, he just glared at the wall, imagining the patrolling soldiers beyond it.

Isaac pulled the blanket off one of the beds, and wrapped it around Jenna. Wet as it was, it had to be better than nothing. He got another, and wrapped it around himself. He sat down beside Jenna and the two, warmed by each other's heat, soon were fast asleep. The others soon followed suit, Felix and Sheba together, the others seperate. The rain never stopped that night.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

When the banging on the door sounded, the adepts all got up with a start, realizing that they couldn't see hardly anything. It was still dark out, but they could no longer hear the lash of the rain against the cabin. At least that was over. "OUT IN 5 MINUTES!" shouted a voice outside, and they knew they had better be ready in 5 minutes. They all looked around, to see that their blankets had actually dried out during the night.

Felix saw Jenna pat Isaac on the back, and then Isaac drearily opened his eyes. Jenna smiled at him. "Morning, lazy."

Isaac groaned, and got up to stretch. Felix helped Sheba up, keeping an eye on Isaac. Garet and Ivan sighed, and waited at the door. Mia and Feizhi joined them, waiting.

The door opened INward, so when it did, it slammed into them, sending them sprawling. "STUPID ADEPTS! CMON!" yelled a soldier, who was brandishing a rifle. The adepts walked out single file, being taken somewhere. The sun was hidden behind glouds left over from last night. They then saw it. Aha. Food, or what qualified as food around here, was being dished out to people.

They got in line, and the soldiers left to bother some other group. They picked up small bowls that were on a table, and got spoons to go with them. Once that was done, they were served some kind of oatmeal, along with bread that looked like it was rotting. Although it didn't smell that way, probably a good thing. They got water to drink, which they simply put in their bowls when they were done eating (as such caused by the absence of cups of any kind).

Isaac and Jenna looked at each other, sighing, before they started eating. Sheba smiled at the two, sensing their thoughts. Feizhi, having been chased out of Mia's mind the previous day, stayed within herself, although she conversed with Ivan a bit. Felix stared at Isaac while eating bread that tasted like dirt. Isaac was too busy looking at Jenna to realize this, or he'd have been quivering in fear. Mia was too busy staring at the food to do much of anything.

After they finished, they put the bowls back onto the table, and they were sheperded to the assembly area again. A few of them stopped for bathroom breaks in between (there were actually bathrooms, which was nice of the people to give them). There was a man in a white uniform, long shirt, long pants, who looked down on them with displeasure. The adepts stood almost at attention, not wanting to try any nerves.

The man licked his lips, and began. "Alright. We have assigned you various jobs to do. But first!" 5 adepts, their hands cuffed behind them, were led to the stage. They were all crying, trying to get away, do anything to stop this. "As many of you were told yesterday, don't be the odd ones out."

He spoke into a soldiers ear, who was forcing the adepts up the steps. 3 were girls, all with the same light brown hair, down to their shoulders. They were probably sisters. The other two were boys, one very young, maybe 8, and the other maybe 18. They were probably brothers. The same red hair.

The men surrounding them took aim, and fired. The heads of all of them exploded.

The audience collectively gasped. The man simply smiled. "Now, on to more important business. Numbers one through fifty, follow the red cars." The first fifty groups walked slowly off in that direction. "Fifty one through one hundred, follow the yellow cars. Again. The soldiers surrounded both groups, marching them out of the compound, presumably to do work.

"Numbers 101 through 150, follow the green cars. The group quickly moved to do what they were told. The dirt, still wet from last night, proved hard to walk through. But they went on. As they walked out of the compound, the sun broke through the clouds remaining from last night.

Their shattered hope could not be repieced together.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

After marching for nearly 3 hours, on roads, through forest, they came to another place. All of them were very tired, but they looked up to see the place. It looked much like the first installation. The men stopped the march, and then began shouting. "THIS IS YOUR NEW RESIDENCE! IT IS EXATCLY LIKE THE OTHER ONE! FIND YOUR CABIN, AND THEN REPORT TO THE ASSEMBLY AREA!"

It was exactly like the other one. They made sure of where their cabin was (number 103, still, even though they'd changed areas). Then they made their way to the assembly area. The same man looked down on them again, the one from the morning. "Alright. Numbers 101 through 125, that way!" He pointed out to the forest they'd just walked through. They turned around and marched back out. Soldiers surrounded them again. They walked the ten minutes back to the area, and then they were stopped again. "Alright. Your job is to work with your team and cut and de-leaf as many trees as you can. We need firewood to last us the winter here, and if you want to live through it, you'll cut down fast. NOW MOVE!"

They were handed axes and bow saws. The soldiers stood at a distance, pointing their guns up, waiting for some idiot to try and use an axe as a weapon. None of them were that stupid.

Felix and Garet used the two axes that their team was given. When they were done cutting down a tree, Isaac and Jenna used the two bow saws to cut the fallen trees to pieces. Ivan, Sheba, Mia, and Feizhi hauled the cut logs away. All of it was back breaking, because the axe took strength to use, the bow saw took a toll on your arm, and carrying or rolling the huge logs was hard on the younger four adepts.

They all worked as hard as comditions permitted. Only after thirty minutes or so, they were all sweating profusly, and were breathing hard. But none of them wanted to stop. They had to do what they were told, or they died. Simple as that.

Poor Sheba was the first to give out. She simply fell to the ground on her stomach, and didn't get up. Already weak, she had rolled, not carried, her logs to the pile. She was simply too tired to continue, still being weak from her sickness. She was probably lucky not to be sick now.

Mia knelt down beside her quickly, worried. "Sheba, are you okay?" she whispered.

Sheba looked up weakly, and shook her head. "I can't feel my arms..." she breathed. Mia held Sheba hand a moment. It was cold and pale. Sheba coughed, and her head fell back down, and her eyes closed partly.

Ivan stopped beside them. "What-... OH SHIT..."

Mia then remembered reprocussions for people not being able to work.

_"If you refuse to work, or can't work, the rest of your eight man team dies with you."_

Mia looked up at Ivan. "Block for me!" Ivan didn't completely understand, but he read her mind, and knew what she meant. He bent over, like he was resting a moment with his log. Feizhi soon joined them, having heard from Ivan what was the matter. Mia rested her hand on Sheba's head, and said, "Ply Well." Sheba's eyelashes fluttered a moment, and then they opened back up. Mia had tried to wake her up this time, fill her with energy, not put her to sleep. Sheba sighed in relief, realizing what had happened.

"Th-thanks a lot guys..." That was the second time Mia had saved her. She owed her big.

Ivan suddenly whispered, "HURRY UP!"

Mia helped Sheba to her feet, as Feizhi loudly said, "You alright there, Sheba? Help her up, will you Mia?"

The aforementioned soldiers grunted raising the guns they held. The adepts stiffened in fear. "What're you all doing sitting around? Lazy adep-" started one of them.

"She tripped." said Ivan, having been tipped off already by Feizhi on what to say. "Mia had to help her up, and we just stopped to make sure that she was okay."

The soldier grunted. "Get back to work." And they left. Sheba and the others sighed with relief.

She owed them BIG.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Felix and Garet were about ready to collapse. After they watched Sheba and the other disappear down the road to the pile with the logs, they sat their axes down a moment to rest, breathing heavily. "Hard huh?" breathed Garet.

"Y-Yeah..." replied Felix, who sounded just as winded. Jenna and Isaac were still sawing away, although Jenna was obviously very tired. Isaac had refrained from comforting her after getting glares from Felix. Felix planned to talk to him about that later. A nice harsh talk.

And then maybe, while Isaac was pissing himself, Felix would relent. He had to make sure Isaac was good for Jenna.

After a few minues, which did little to relieve them, they began on the next tree.

And so it continued, until a break for lunch, more bread that tasted like dirt. After two slices, it was time to start again.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Watching them all, with his blue eyes, from a distance, was a man with his long blue hair in a ponytail. A man with nearly 5000 adepts ready for battle. A man who'd risked everything to get here, and who would do it all again if he was given the choice. A man who'd once been a senator, a man who'd been respected worldwide, a wanted man now, with nothing but the clothes on his back and the detemination in his heart.

A man named Piers. He was dressed in nondescript greenish blue clothing, brown boots, and had nothing but the binoculors through which he looked.

He looked at the soldiers in disgust. "Bastards. Look at that, Hama, they just slugged that poor red head over there for absolutely nothing!"

"Apalling, isn't it?" said Hama. She was a Jupiter adept, tall, with long blond hair, and purple eyes, dressed similarly to Piers.

"Most apalling, yes." he replied. He put his binoculors down. "How long again?"

Hama sighed. "Same as the last time you asked. About 24 hours until Storm Break."

Piers sighed. "Sorry. I'm jumpy."

Hama grinned. "Oh, not really. You should see the troops, ready and willing. The soldiers down their won't know what hit them."

"Good. Begin the positioning at T minus 10 hours. Dismissed."

"Yes sir."

As the unsuspecting soldiers marched their prisoners back to the compound, they were unaware of the great storm building on the horizon.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The adepts marched limply back to the compound in their lines. All eight were absolutely beat tired. The girls especially, because they weren't used to this kind of work. Sheba leaned on Felix, mainly because Felix was kind to her. She'd forged a kind of friendship since they first met, although they hadn't known each other long.

For this reason, Jenna, who'd known Isaac for a lot longer, suddenly felt more reliant on Isaac than her own brother. He was really busy helping the younger blond, and she knew that Sheba and Felix were friends. She also assumed that because Felix wasn't being an idiot, that he approved of Jenna and Isaac together. Although that wasn't official yet.

She assumed wrong. But let us continue.

Isaac helped her to the assembly area, where all they wanted to do was collapse, but they were made to stand, soldiers again surrounding the area. The white uniformed man, maybe a different one, did it really matter?- said to go to dinner. They were given bowls, spoons, a piece of bread, water to drink, and some kind of soup, with what looked like potatoes inside. They all recieved one potato slice. Not much dinner for what they'd done that day.

After they ate their skimpy meal, which tasted (not like dirt) better than the others, they went back to the assembly area. Alex was there again, the blue haired bastard.

"Welcome back, numbers 101 through 105. Have a good day?" No response. "Good. Expect the same the next day. And the day after that. Nobody is here to help you. Goodnight."He stepped off the stage, and walked down towards the center of camp, immediately in the middle of the adepts. He didn't seem the least bid afraid.

And they were sent to bed by another man in a white uniform. Sheba nearly collapsed on the way back. Felix had to carry her around again, while Mia looked at her, concerned. "Felix, she really is sick. I can't help her, not like this. She needs to go to a hospital... though good luck finding one around here."

"Really? You'd be surprised," replied a familiar voice from beside them. It was Alex. They all flinched, and broke out in sweat. "It's fine. I was going to help actually." The adepts in the courtyard had nearly passed them by completely. Alex and the eight adepts were the only ones left.

He walked over to Sheba, and he smiled gently. "Ah. I see..."

He turned to Mia. "You tried to heal her, right?"

Mia nodded, flustered. "Y-yeah, but how...!"

He grinned. "I owe you this, at least, Mia."

Mia and the others were shocked. How did he know her name?

Alex simply smiled. "Anyway, Mia, you'll need a little something." He put his hand out to her, and she glanced up. "Take my hand," he said. She did so, and suddenly, a bright blue light surrounded the two. The soldiers marched past, oblivious.

Mia pulled her hand back quickly, shocked, as Isaac and Garet stepped in front of her protectively. Alex simply smiled. "What the hell was that!" asked Garet.

"I gave Mia a skill that should help the girl there."

Isaac was angry now. "HOW DO YOU KNOW HER NAME!"

Alex just kept smiling. "None of your business, boy. By the way, Mia. That's Pure Ply. You should be able to heal the girl now, as it's quite a bit stronger than the skills you know."

The full impact sunk in the the group, and they all exclaimed, "YOU'RE AN ADEPT!"

Alex cocked an eyebrow. "Why, yes I am. Shouldn't I be?"

"But you're... the head person here..." stuttured Mia.

"Ohhh... I can see why you are confused," said Alex. "Well, you see, I helped this government to do this for reasons of my own. I believe you will learn of them in time. Anyway, my time is nearly up here, as I have to move on to bigger and better things."

He turned to leave. Mia gasped out, "Wait!"

Alex turned, annoyed. "What?"

"How come the soldiers didn't see that?"

"Ah. That was because normal people cannot see psynergy."

"But they saw earlier when I healed Sheba the first time!" she responded.

"They were trained to look for signs of use, such as heat eminating from areas, or, in your case, wounds healing themselves." He chuckled.

"Why did you help us?" she asked.

"Find the Mercury clan Mia, and all your questions will be answered."

"The... what?"

"Get to bed now, all of you, before I have the soldiers shoot you."

He said it playfully, but clearly it wasn't playful at all. They hurried as fast as they could to get back to their cabin.

Once inside, Felix layed Sheba down on the bottom bunk of their bed, and Mia put a hand to her forehead. "She's feverish. Bring me a wet towel."

They were able to get that, at least, from the wet towels that morning, that still hadn't dried out in the cabin. She put the rag gently on Sheba's head. Sheba groaned. "G-guys... I'm fine... really..."

Mia rolled her eyes. "Of course you are!" she said. She put her hand to Sheba's forehead again. She hesistated. Isaac looked at her funny, as did Felix.

"What're you waiting for?" asked Felix. The rest of the party listened intently.

Mia sighed. "I-I... I don't know whether to trust this technique or not. It feels... okay... just that I don't trust Alex. Why he's helping me is beyond me..."

The others nodded. "But still, what choice do we have?" asked Isaac.

Mia sighed helplessly. "Okay... stand back."

They did so, and she placed her hand on Sheba's forehead. "Pure Ply..." she whispered. Blue light eminated from her hand, and surrounded Sheba. It sunk in, kind of, eminating no light, but turning the skin blue seemingly, before fading entirely. Sheba's head sprung up.

"Wha huh? Where...?"

Felix grinned. "Finally awake, lazy?"

Sheba looked down at the wet rag that had fallen off of her head when she sprung up. She threw it at Felix, and it slammed into his face. The rest of the party laughed, until they heard a thump.

"MIA!" screeched Feizhi. She kneeled beside Mia, who was out, on the ground. She put a hand to her head, and read her mind. Her panicked face relaxed. "Never mind... she's fine, just sleeping. It must have taxed her too much to use that."

The others sighed in relief, and got in bed, actually on the beds this time. They were quickly asleep, absorbed in their own thoughts.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Alex smiled as he got into his huge bed. Curtains draped from post hung around him, and he smiled. Yes, now he'd given Mia her past. Let her have it, treasure it, and let her die knowing that she could do nothing with it.

Fun, fun to play with her like that. But now time for rest, a rest well earned. He fell to sleep.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

While Weyard slept, the storm rose, and it's fury gained. The beginning of the end was nigh.


	5. Storm Break

Mia woke up during the night, finding herself in her own bed. She must have fallen from the Pure Ply? Perhaps.

She look around. The first face she saw was Sheba's, peacefully sleeping on her bed, her cheeks flushed. _Good..._ thought Mia. Sheba was fine.

Alex... how had he known who she was? How had he known about Mercury? She'd had to act stupid so that the others didn't think she was wierd or something, but she knew all about Mercury. The people at the shelter, her friends, had told her that she was of Mercury clan. When she asked what that meant, they said that they only knew that the ancients of the same order had protected a lighthouse in the north. Why that was important, or what Mia was supposed to do with that, was all beyond her.

They'd also told her that Meg and Justin were of the same line.

Meg and Justin hadn't been told, but Mia was to be their protector, hence her frustration that she wasn't able to go with them. The people at the shelter also taught her how to use basic psynergy, such as Frost, Ply, Ply Well, and Cure Poison. Other than that, there was very little she knew about her lineage, other than the fact that her parents current location was unknown. Their status as live human beings was also up for grabs. Nobody seemed to know.

Mia thought about Alex in particular now. How had he known about Mercury? He had blue hair as well, a trait of the Mercury clan, or so she thought, but he wasn't on the same side. He also apparently knew Ply, to a far greater extent than Mia herself did. So Alex was almost certainly from the Mercury clan as well.

_NO! He can't be!_ She told herself. _He's a low life BASTARD!_

Alex couldn't be in the Mercury clan. He was working for the government against other adepts... but why? Reasons of his own wasn't very helpful. She sighed, nursing a headache, and decided to put herself to sleep. She laid down again, and cast Ply on herself, putting herself to sleep.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The next morning already? Well, here we go. I am SO ready to be taunted, run ragged, and stare at beautiful girls that count me out as an option automatically! LET'S GET PUMPED! YEAAAAAH!

...Okay... not really.

These thoughts, and more about the girls, passed through Ivan's head. The poor blondie wasn't really all that ready for the day ahead, and as much as he hated being here, he did have to adore the girls. The first was Mia. She was so caring and kind, and her hair flowed beautifully.

But the annoyance of age difference discounted her.

Jenna was very cute, and had the psynergy of Mars, with a temper to match. While she was volatile, she could be just as caring the next moment.

But she was taken, or would be soon, by Isaac. Ivan had done some searching while Isaac was asleep, and found that the center of most thoughts was Jenna. Big surprise.

Then there was Sheba. The same blond hair, and the same eyes. Honestly, the most likely girl of the lot.

She was also taken, by Felix, and it was obvious to all that she liked him.

Then there was Feizhi. He hadn't had a chance to see what the others thought of her, but Garet, the only other guy without an attachment, seemed centered on Jenna as well. That left Feizhi wide open to attack.

Amazing, how guys think and strategize about girls.

All this time, he made sure to think about these things in a corner of his mind. No way that they could find these thoughts. Nope.

After a while, the others were up, but that was mainly due to the fact that a soldier slamed on the door again, screaming at them. Mia was the first to get up, groaning. She rubbed her eyes, and got out. "Mornin' Ivan..." she mumbled, obviously wanting more sleep.

"Mornin'..." he mumbled back. Next up was Feizhi, and since he was technically just looking, he didn't stare at her or anything. Wierd, how that worked. You only blushed once your crush's were limited to one being.

Feizhi looked at him with an eyebrow raised after she got up. "You look a wreck Ivan. You alright?"

He looked at her, confused. "Huh?"

"Your HAIR silly. It's all over the place."

"Oh..." Without a comb, it did that sometimes.

Feizhi smiled. "I'll fix it at breakfast."

Well, THAT was nice.

Everyone else was soon up, with Felix asking Sheba if she felt okay. Much better, of course, now that Mia had Pure Ply'd her. Isaac asked Jenna how she was, and she just smiled and looked at him. Isaac was visibly blushing, and he glanced nervoursly at Felix, who glared at him for a moment.

They maintained a secure distance from the door this time, so that none of them got slammed in the face like yesterday. Nontheless, it opened just far enough to skim Ivan's nose. He yelped in pain, but got up quickly, not wanting to warrant punishment.

The soldiers escorted them directly to breakfast this morning, apparently they'd not be having a pre-breakfast chat with Alex. Which was better than having one, in most minds. The adepts walked through the line, getting a bowl, and a spoon, and some water in a little cup. This morning, they had eggs that hardly looked cooked, and also some biscuits and a small piece of unidentifiable meat. Ivan sniffed at it eagerly nontheless. It looked better than yesterday's mush-in-a-bowl.

He and Feizhi sat down together, and Feizhi ran her fingers through his hair. He stared at her face, forcing himself not to look any lower while she was focused on his hair. NOW he was blushing. He felt her pushing hair here, untangling there, and then she was finished. "All done!" she said happily. She then pushed her own hair around until it looked combed, or at least presentable, and put it into a ponytail with a small scrunchie. Ivan smiled.

"Thanks a lot Feizhi. You look kind of cute that way..." He realized what he'd said, and that he'd said it in front of everybody. Nobody excet Feizhi took notice though, because they were busy stuffing their faces. Their grey uniforms and the rest of the eating area, the wooden tables, the blue sky, everything faded out except Feizhi, who was looked at him, her face quite red, her mind racing through thoughts, as she connected with him on a mental level.

_Y-you think... I'm cute...?_

Well... yeah. Your hair is just... uh... I don't have a word for it...

The feeling that he felt about her hair, though, was also transfered through his thought, and she blushed even deeper.

_Uhm... I think... you're... pretty handsome too..._

Ivan blushed a little deeper, and wanted to say something, but a soldier yelled that they'd better hurry, if they wanted to have any breakfast at all. There were unfinished thoughts that they'd talk about later. They quickly ate the eggs and other food (the biscuits were good actually, but everthing else tasted the same...), and then were escorted to the big open area called the assembly area, where a white uniformed man said that their group was to be chopping wood again.

Wonderful. Ivan's thoughts were centered on something else, however, as he and Feizhi, making their way towards the forest, walking down the dirt road, unknowingly linked hands, smiling happily.

Their shattered hope glinted with life, as it began to rebuild itself.

For even in the darkness there is light. Even in the evil there is good.

Even in the nothing, there is something.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The smile on Garet's face began to widen. Looks like Ivan had found a friend. Feizhi too.

Most of the others had noticed too, he noticed, and they were looking at the two pointedly from a distance, smirks on their faces. Sheba was whispering with Mia about something, and Mia giggled. Ivan and Feizhi just trotted along, beaming, oblivious to the others completely. Isaac and Jenna were also looking at the two, amused. Felix watched, a smile on his face, happy for the two.

Garet's smiled dimmed slightly. Though those two may be able to rebuild hope on command, he could not. His spirit was dead, and would be for some time.

Like fire, he reflected. Fire could burn anything, and did burn everything in it's path. But once it was done, only cinders and ash were left. And everything else was dead.

Dead.

Let's not think about that, he told himself.

They were still walking up the path, when Garet saw a strange sight. Like a sillhouetted person against the sky, there one moment, gazing down at the people, his long blue hair up in a ponytail. Beside him stood another woman, with hair purple, kind of like Feizhi. She was glaring at something. The soldiers seemed to see them too, and a few of them ran up in the general direction of them. The two disappeared, as if they were a mirage. Meanwhile, the skies above, which earlier that morning had been clear, was beginning to cloud over.

He looked into the forest. Lightning went for the tallest things around, right? Trees. Would they force the adepts to keep cutting? And die maybe?

He hoped not.

But it seemed as though they would. He picked up the axe again, and held it in his right hand, and found his first tree. Tall, about Six inches thick. Six inches of wood that would be gone soon. He slotted his axe into the wood at an angle, making a wedge, so he could control the direction in which it would fall. After he'd been at the wedge for about ten minutes, he was ready to start on the other side. He slammed his axe into the tree. It shuddered, and hung a little bit to the right. He knew his next hit would be all it took. "HERE IT COMES!" he yelled, warning the others.

He hit the tree again, and it fell with an earthly groan to the ground, it's leaves scattering like sparks on the ground. It made a SWUSH as it hit the ground, bounced a bit, and then it stopped. Isaac and Jenna then jumped on it, starting to saw it to pieces. As soon as they got the first piece off, Ivan grabbed it and took off towards a big pile of them down toward the facility aways.

And again.

And again.

And again and again and again.

Soon, they were all hot and sweaty and tired again, like they'd been yesterday. And unbeknownst to them, eyes watched them, many eyes, and not the eyes with metal deathbringers in their hands. Eyes from a different land.

Blue eyes, attached to a head with a blue ponytail.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Picard sighed. This was taking too long. The soldiers were beginning to get organized.

Picard reflected on his training. He'd been a diplomat in name only, from the beginning. When he was young, 18 maybe, he'd signed on with the Lemurian Adept Army, the most elite of it's kind in the world. He became one of the strongest soldiers, the most cunning ever known. And suddenly, it appeared as though he might become a general soon.

But no. He didn't. He announced that he didn't want to be a killer anymore, and instead wished to be a diplomat. This was backed up by accounts from the other adepts who said that he was a softie at heart.

Yeah right.

He became a member of the Senate, in reality, a spy. He conducted counter intelligence movements throughout Tolbi, and did it with extreme skill. He'd never been suspected, not once.

And now, after he thought he might be able to retire and go back home, away from this unsufferable land, he was a Field General- adept Generals didn't cower behind their soldiers the way normal human Generals did- in real war.

War was such a relative term. He preferred to think of this as a Revolution.

He smiled, and spoke into his radio. "Squad leaders, report in."

"Red One, standing by."

"Green One, standing by."

"Unseen One, standing by."

"Yellow One, standing by."

"Hama, standing by."

"All standing by, sir," came the final report.

Good.

"Listen," he said, "We're moving this up. High command gave us a date, not a time, and if we give them more time, they'll be set up in their patrols. Can anybody find reason why we shouldn't move this up?"

Nothing. "Continue sir."

"Very well then." He smiled, and took a deep breath. This was what he'd been waiting for his entire life. It was his life.

It was his meaning for existance.

"'Let lightning be your warning, and thunder your battle cry!'"he said, quoting Jupiter adept scripture. "EXECUTE OPERATION STORMBREAK IMMEDIATELY!" he shouted, startling nearby adepts and soldiers, who turned to see what that was.

It was a bolt of lightning, an upheaval of earth, an icy missle, and a storm of fire, all at once, that consumed the small group of soldiers before they had time to scream. The nearby adepts started to run, but Picard yelled, "NO! NO! We're friends of adepts! We'll protect you!" They turned, wary, but came to the people who'd killed the soldiers. "Get them to safety!" he ordered one of the younger Venus adepts. He saluted, with his hand over his heart, and then tramped off, with eight very confused adepts at a run behind him.

Picard turned to the rest of his troops, dressed exactly like he was, in bluish green clothing. "YOU'RE WITH ME! MOVE MOVE MOVE!" And they were gone again, as another lightning blast tore through the day.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Jenna was scared. No, wait. Scared was a term for fear. Simple fear.

This wasn't simple fear. This was more a devouring terror.

Another tree fell of it's own accord, nearly smashing Isaac and Garet, but they'd ducked out from under it at the last moment. Felix and Jenna ran over to them, all soaked by the driving rains that had sporouted from nowhere. "YOU OKAY!" screamed Jenna.

"Y-yeah..." muttered Garet.

"WHAT'S GOING ON GUYS!" came a voice from behind them. They turned to see Sheba and the others running up to them. "WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON!" screeched Sheba.

Jenna ran a hand through her hair. "I don't know..."

A passing group of soldiers were firing into the trees, and they heard a scream as they lay flat on the ground, hands over their heads, on their stomachs, trying to shield themselves. They heard a scream, and the gunblasts stopped. Then they heard something huge moving, like a groan, and then a scream from the soldiers (they could tell- lower pitched). Then a sound like ripping, and a GLOOSH.

Blood ran down in rivers from above. Jenna tried not to cry. She tried hard, but she couldn't win in this situation. She shuddered as another blast of lightning tore through the night. She heard a yell, but couldn't make out what it was because of the rain. She turned a little bit to her left, to see a man with a blue ponytail looking at them. "COME ON! WE'LL GET YOU TO SAFETY!"

She gulped, as Isaac and Felix got up. They didn't approach immediately, but were wary. The man sighed. "DO YOU WANT TO COME OR NOT!" he yelled. Isaac and Felix sighed, and ran over to the man. Jenna and the others followed suit. They ran through the forest as fast as they could. They couldn't even see where they were going, so she had no idea how the man knew where he was going.

She heard another earthly groan, and she looked up to see a tree about ready to fall on her, and suddenly, her knees were locked. She couldn't move for the fear the overwhelmed her. She saw Isaac turn and scream something, desperation in his face. Then she felt a hand pull her back, and she fell to the ground, on her back, away from the tree as it fell to the ground. She looked back to see Felix in tears.

"I thought I'd lost you..." he said. She smiled up at him.

"Nice save bro..." she said. She felt anything but happy, but her brother always helped her. Sheba and Feizhi were with them on their side of the tree, while the blue haired man and the other four were on the other side. They were about to step over the tree, or try to 'wade' through the branches, when they saw the blue haired man's eyes go wide, and he took a step back. Jenna saw her friends start to do the same, looking horrified.

She realized what the reason was when Felix yelped in pain, Sheba and Feizhi scramed, and a hand pulled her wrists behind her, and she felt metal at her head. The handcuffs were wet and cold on her wrists. She started shaking again, crying in fear of being killed. Isaac looked at her in pity, and a sort of longing. She looked straight at him, her eyes begging, 'Save me, Isaac...'.

'Save me...'

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Mia watched in horror as the soldiers cuffed her friends' hands behind them. Felix looked more angry than afraid, but the girls were quaking with terror. The events of previous days had served to give them a sort of constant fear, that awoke whenever something out of the usual happened.

Unusual was usual around here, apparently.

The man beside her with the blue ponytail cursed under his breath, and grabbed her arm. "CMON!" he yelled. Isaac grabbed him by his shoulder.

"WE CAN'T LEAVE THEM HERE! WE HAVE TO-"

The man punched Isaac hard, enough to draw blood from Isaac's mouth. Isaac staggered on his feet, as Garet helped him. Ivan backed away slowly. Mia pulled her hand from the man's grasp, although he let it go.

"WE DON'T HAVE TIME! I KNOW IT'S HARD, BUT WE HAVE TO LEAVE! WE'LL GET THEM EVENTUALLY, I PROMISE!" he yelled.

Isaac glared at him, but nodded. "I understand. We'll get them back guys."

Garet and the others, nodded, still sad at having to leave them, as the man led on through the forest, pushing brush and small plants out of their way. Isaac began to sob, and Mia looked at him sadly. She knew he was worried about his friends, and she could do nothing to help him.

She turned her blue eyes to the ground, as they ran through the dense forest and the driving rain.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The four captured adepts were marched back to the assembly area. Many more white uniformed soldiers stood guard around them, no guns, just the guards. They dejectedly looked at the ground, not talking. There was no need for talk.

_We are going to die._

After hours of waiting in the rain, the gates closed at the entrance to the facility, and Alex was on the top of the podium again. "Good evening," he declared.

"As you are all aware, we were attacked by Old Weyard forces a few hours ago. Unfortunately for the rest of you, people escaped."

_We are going to die._

"Kill them all. One group at a time. Slowly if you want. No holds barred men."

Alex seemed to decide to stay at the top of the podium to watch the adepts be slaughtered. The first group was dragged to the front of the yard. The men shot them up, full of bullets, and blood flew everywhere like rain, like the rain falling from the sky. It gave them the sickening thought that the rain was made of blood.

The next group they stuck with knives, slowly bleeding them to death. The screams of the dead and dying rose above the clamor of the crowd. Some of them tried to make a break for it, but they were set upon and killed with knives, beatings, bullets, whatever have you. The four just sat there, knowing there was no reason to fight back.

A hand grabbed Sheba's arm. _Is it time then? Was this only a temporary stall before I died?_

The others were pulled behind her, and they were made to kneel. They looked up as guns were pointed at them. A fast death then The guns were cocked, and then-

"NO."

The soldiers safed their guns, and looked up in surprise. "What commander?" asked one of them.

"These I have use for." He declared. "Take their binds off. They will not struggle."

The soldiers moved slowly, warily, to do this, and the four adepts blinked, amazed. _Why did he save us?_ Was the resounding question in all their heads.

He motioned for them to follow him, as more screams and bullet burst rent through the night.

When they got a ways off from the hellhole, they were beside a cabin. Alex walked in, and they followed. He motioned for them to sit. They sat around a luxurious wooden table, as they scanned the room. It was completely shining wood, lined with red carpets, and many bedrooms. They stared in awe, but soon looked as Alex warily. "Why...?" asked Felix.

Alex took a seat at the head of the table. "Because you are needed for a purpose."

Four white uniformed soldiers walked in, two shorter than the others. The first thing the adepts noticed were the ears, and the skin color, blue, green, and pink or red...? And those markings... what were those for?

Alex coughed slightly, and they all looked at him. "These are Agatio, Saturos, Karst, and Menardi. I know you didn't try to get away when it was just me bringing you all over here, mainly because you are in shock yes?"

They looked at the ground, sighing. _Yes._ They thought inwardly.

Alex smiled. "I'm a Mercury adept, and all of them are Mars adepts. Try to get away now, and we'll kill you, simple as that. We need Felix and Sheba and Feizhi to enter the lighthouses for people we don't have elements for, but Jenna..."

He trailed off, his gaze locked on Jenna, who gulped, and put her hands up in front of her, seemingly trying to distance herself from Alex. Alex smiled. "Of course, so long as the rest of you cooperate, there will be no need to harm Jenna whatsoever." Felix growled, but knew Alex was right.

"What did you mean about those lighthouses?" he asked.

Alex ordered Agatio to get them all something warm to drink, hot chocolate. And they waited for a moment. Soon, it was brought back, warm and ready. Alex took a sip, sighing with the good taste. He motioned to the others. "Come come, it isn't poisoned..."

They nervously took drinks. Feizhi took a gulp, and choked on it for a moment. She coughed, until it all went down, her face quite red in embarrasment.

"I have not the time to relate a good retelling, so this will be vague and needing. Perhaps another time, I'll relate the full tale. But for now..." began Alex, "Long ago, the four lighthouses of the elements were created. They were made to hold a force so powerful, that the one who wielded it could do as he wished. Eternal life, enormous power, anything!" he said it almost dreamily. Then he sighed. "But This force was sealed away, you see, because it was too powerful. People used it to war on one another. It is a branch of our powers, which are called Psynergy."

He shook his head. "The fools didn't realize that Alchemy was the source of the earth's life force, and now, the earth is dying. Prox is dying now. You know, in the northeastern corner of the world?"

They nodded. This was getting wierd.

"Well, they did make a way to control the power again. They sealed it into four little balls of power, called stars, so immensely sought after, that for a time, they became everybody's life dream to find."

"But they were never found, not a one."

At this point, he drew a box forth from under the table. "I found them, however. In a certain museum, thanks to a loudmouth scientist all to eager to speak of findings in Mount Aleph. And now, we must use them to light the lighthouses and save the world from a terrible death."

Felix laughed. The others stared at him, even his sister, repulsed. He was crazy. It was just that kind of laughter. "You've got to be kidding! You expect us to believe some far fetched bullshit about the world ending! COME ON!"

He stopped laughing after a while, and silence reigned. Alex raised an eyebrow, and broke the silence. "No, I don't. But evetually, you will see the truth Felix. I promise you. Whether or not you believe it does not matter. You'll do what we say."

The other three gulped, as the Mars Adept's grabbed them, and pulled them from their seats. "Take them to their rooms, if you will. Let them get washed up, and then let's turn in. We have a long journey to make tommorrow."

Sheba was dragged to her room, and sighed as the door slammed behind her. She was surprised at one thing. A sink and a shower. Get washed up? Certainly.

After a shower, and many pondered thoughts, she began to sink into sleep. Alex had truly believed what he'd said. He hadn't been fabricating this. Either he was a fanatic about this, so much so that he believed in it to the end, or he was telling the truth. His crude summary hadn't been nearly enough for her to grasp this.

She sighed as she changed into a nice pair of bed clothes for once, silk by the feel of them, way too rich for her, and she climbed into a bed for the first time in her life. She snuggled into the pillows, and fell to sleep.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Alex smiled. They all had been told, and now they were rattled. They knew not what awaited them. This was the end. The end of all things.

And as always, he'd come out on top.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Isaac and the others must have followed him for hours, until they got to a clearing, full of lights, which illuminated tents and equipment, with blue-green uniformed men running here and there.

The blue haired man swept them into a tent, and sat on the ground. "You four stay with me. You wanted to go after your friends, right?" he asked. Isaac nodded fiercely. Garet did as well. Ivan followed suit, nervous. Mia just stared at him.

"Alright then, here's what I have to say. I am Picard, general of this army. I was once head of intelligence, and this is strange, now, that we've heard of a most disturbing event."

He paused. "Have any of you heard of the four lighthouses?"

Mia thought a moment, then raised her hand. "One is Mercury, right?"

"Yes, one is. The others are for the other elements, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus. All four were constructed long ago to cage a power called Alchemy, which was wielded in the olden days much as is psynergy today. Your powers are called psynergy." he said. "And now, these lighthouses could be lit with a small star, each representing one of the elements. Doing this would release Alchemy again. A researcher called Kraden had found them, and was studying them, when they were stolen." He sighed. "My government fears that Alex, the traitor, has found them and is going to try and let loose Alchemy on the world again. The simple action of lighting the lighthouses could destroy the world."

He sighed again. "I know you just got free and all, but this is a hard life. Things come fast. You might not believe me, but it's the truth."

Mia decided to help the man. "I believe you."

He looked startled. "Why?"

"My friends in Imil told me that I was descended from the Mercury clan. We protected a lighthouse in the north. I know what that means now... we protected it from being lit, with these stars, right?"

"Yes. You must get to Mercury lighthouse, and we'll give you transport. You're to take that Jeep over there." He pointed to an open top green Jeep, like the army used, except it looked more civilian. "It's street legal, technically." He grinned. "And it's an automatic, just in case you can't drive a stick."

Isaac grumbled about something, and the man laughed. "Now get going, and get to Imil."

He tossed the keys at the group, and Isaac led the charge out the door. "Was it really wise to give them the fate of the world?" asked Hama, who'd been hiding in the shadows.

"Probably not." said Picard. "But since when am I a man given to rational thought?"

"All the time. I can see the gears turning in your mind. What are you planning?"

He smiled. "I can't spare any troops, least of all you and I. Those are the only four who seemed ready and willing to go out and kick ass. Besides that, there's something about the blonde, some kind of an aura about him..."

"Yes. I agree."

"Well then, back home?"

"Yes."

The army began packing, as a car started down a road to Imil.


	6. Revelations

As the car sped along the roadway, Mia jostled around quite a bit. Ivan swore loudly, and Garet yelled, "ISAAC! CMON MAN! DRIVE RIGHT!"

"I'M TRYING!"

They were still not on a concrete roadway, so of course, going around 80 mph on a dirt road causes a LITTLE bouncing, right?

Well, anyway.

After the previous 3 hours of yelling, the adepts got hoarse, and their throats hurt, and they decided to lapse into silence. This lasted about two minutes before Ivan spoke up. "Mia, what did you mean? Please tell us, because I didn't understand what he meant about this crap. I still don't know if I believe him."

Mia sighed. "Alright." She began her story, "In Imil, I stayed at a center for homeless kids. The kids there said they knew my parents. My parents told them to make sure I knew I was from the Mercury clan. The Mercury clan protected a great lighthouse in the north. The only lighthouse I can think of is that museum lighthouse, next to Imil."

Isaac nodded. "That's where were headed."

Garet scratched his hair. "So, what you're saying is that if these things are lit, then the world dies?"

"Apparently."

"Wonderful."

"Indeed."

"And we have to stop it?" he asked.

"Yup." said Mia.

Garet sighed. "Alright then. I suppose that... what'd he call them... psynergy? I suppose that'll come into effect a bit more. What all do we know?"

Ivan started. "I can use wind and lightning. Not all that strong... but good enough, I think."

Mia grinned. "I heal. I can use some water and ice, but not strong."

Isaac just drove. Garet sighed and said, "He can heal, and fight using earth. I can use lots of fire."

"Then we should be fine, shouldn't we?" asked Ivan.

"Guns generally win out over magic, kiddo." said Isaac.

"Good point..." said Ivan, remembering the two adepts he'd seen killed before he'd been taken prisoner.

"So Isaac, we need to make a decision right here, right now." said Garet.

"About what?" asked Isaac.

"Well..." Garet hesitated. "That guy just gave us some stupid summary of something. I mean, we all tramped off because we wanted to save the others, right?" At this point, Mia and Ivan and Isaac nodded. "Well, how do we know he didn't just pull that out of his ass? We don't. So what are we REALLY going to do? Are we going to stop them from lighting these lighthouses because HE said it could mean the end of the world? Or do we go to save the others?"

The silence echoed for a moment. Ivan started to say something, but seemingly choked, and stopped. Isaac was the first to speak, saying, "Well, of course we will save the others first. Forgive me, but if we can't confirm that story, there's no need to delve further."

"Y-yeah..." said Mia.

"Got it." said Ivan.

"You the man, Isaac." Garet grinned, as the Jeep gave another lurch on the road towards Imil.They saw the mountains getting bigger. Soon, they'd pass through them, once they got to the main road and went through the Bilibin Tunnel.

"But who was that guy that Picard said was studying this stuff?" asked Ivan. "Kraden? I've heard that name before..."

"Come to think of it," said Isaac, "I remember hearing that name too. He was an old white haired guy that studied Mt. Aleph a lot, and went in and out. Once, he requested the help of some adepts. They got in, and they came back out too, but I don't know if he found anything or not."

"Wierd..." remarked Garet. "What do you want to do about that?"

Isaac shrugged. "Not much we can do. Anyway, our friends are our priority. Not this world dying crap."

The others nodded, as they found the main road. Isaac turned onto the road, and sped down the freeway.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Feizhi woke up, feeling like shit. She'd slept in a good bed for once, and had even been able to wash up properly. Alex had certainly made sure that he had some showers.

But she couldn't dispell the thoughts in her mind. What Alex wanted them for was to 'light' some ligthouses with little balls of energy. Why he needed them to enter the lightouse was beyond her, but she was getting annoyed. All these people were were adepts, right? So why couldn't she just blast one of them full of lightning and be done with it? But she couldn't do that, because then Jenna might get hurt. She didn't want that obviously, and so she didn't do it.

But she still wanted to. Badly.

A knock came at her door, as she finished dressing into some clothes she'd found waiting on her floor, a pair of white pants and a white shirt, with some white sandals. Her eyes already hurt from the light.

"Yes?" she called, annoyed.

"Ready yet?" came the voice of one of the wierd people from last time. She couldn't place it.

"Sure..."

The door opened, and it revealed her friends and the other three white uniformed people.

And that bastard blue hair.

Her friends were dressed the same as her. Sheba stared at her, as if wanting to converse with her, but Feizhi thought, 'No... not yet.' She didn't want to be caught doing it.

The man said, "Let's go then."

He led them all outside, where nothing was happening. They stopped, and the four adepts looked around expectantly for something, anything to appear. And it did, quickly, and certainly scaring all four of them.

A loud, wind blowing helicopter came out of nowhere. It was quite large, shaped like a longer version of what people were used to in helicopters, and it was all in black. Two gigantic propellers spun around at top speed, kickung up dust and dirt, choking the four friends, who had gasped in surprise. Alex and the four Mars Adepts pushed the four coughing and startled prisoners to the thing, and made them get in. They were shoved into a back room, and the other 5 people got in the front one, a solid black divider seperating the rooms, with a door on the side closest to where they'd gotten on.

Suddenly, the thing lurched, getting a squeal from Sheba, who sqeezed onto Felix's arm in a deathgrip, as they rose into the sky. Felix smiled jokingly, as he stroked her hair, comforting her. "You know, for a Jupiter Adept, you sure seem scared of heights."

She growled at him, and let go of his arm angrily, before he put the same arm around her, which caused her to blush, and change the growl to a purr sort of. Jenna and Feizhi tried to focus on something else, looking at each other in disgust. Sheba just leaned into Felix, seemingly finding comfort in his strong chest, closing her eyes dreamily. Felix kept his arm around her, running his other hand through her hair, and she soon was completely asleep, a small blush still on her cheeks, and a smile on her face.

Feizhi thought about reading her mind, and keeping it for blackmail, but then her own thoughts turned to something else.

Ivan... was he coming to save her? She sighed, looking at the wall, discontentedly. She wished he was here. Maybe he'd be too shy to do something like THAT, but just his prescense would have comforted her a bit.

She glanced over at Jenna, to see her twiddling her thumbs, probably thinking about Isaac. She decided not to comfirm that, as she turned back to her wall, Sheba's soft breathing the only sound other than the copter's propellers as they flew through the sky to the north.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Why them? Why not just anybody else?" grumbled Saturos. "You certainly have some explaining to do here, Alex. You're serving your adgenda, and nobody elses. You'd better have a good reason for this."

"Oh, certainly I do!" exclaimed the Mercury adept, a sparkle in his eye.

"And what is THAT?" asked Menardi. The four Mars adepts glared at him.

"For amusement on my own part," laughed Alex.

The four gaped at him for a moment, then growled. "What the hell do you mean by that?"

Alex stopped laughing, still grinning like mad. "Well, you see, they're the friends of another Mercury adept, the only other Mercury Clan survivor... and I would really like to see her meet her end in pain and terror. She deserves it, after all... prancing around like she deserves to use psynergy! She's just an amateur, and I'm sure Picard's deluded her into thinking that the world will be destroyed if they light the houses."

"Then couldn't we just convince them otherwise, and then go on our merry way?"

"No..." sighed Alex. "That's no fun."

"This isn't about FUN you fool!" shouted Agatio. "This is about the fate of Prox, and the whole wide world! Not about some goddamn fantasy you thought up last night. If this backfires, it's on YOUR head."

Alex just laughed merrily, saying, "It's a deal then."

The others sighed in irate frustration. "Why are we going northwest, by the way?" asked Menardi. "I thought we were going to the Mercury lighthouse immediately."

"Oh, I'm sorry. We're merely picking up Kraden. I can't have him voicing any concerns, or the government might get suspicious of me."

"Speaking of the government," said Karst, "How are they dealing with their losses?"

"By bombing the hell out of the Suhulla."

"Idiots..."

"What more could you expect from a normal human?" asked Saturos. They all laughed, despite themselves, and it rang through the whole helicopter, sounding as evil laughter to their captives in the back.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The light around the car suddenly disappeared into nothing, as the car entered the tunnel through the mountains near Bilibin. An interesting mountain chain, once passed through via a small cave, but nowadays, modern transport made it much easier to pass through, with a hole cut straight through the mountain, lit every 20 feet or so by lights. It was still fairly dark in there.

The cars sounds echoed off the walls, as the adepts' hair ruffled in the gusty winds that rushed past them.

"How far through here!" yelled Ivan, extra loud so that the sound along the sides of the tunnel didn't completely drown him out.

"About 2 or 3 miles!" yelled back Isaac.

"OKAY!" yelled back Ivan.

They were all still in their gray clothes, and Garet had brought up just before they got into the tunnel certain situations in which that might not be very handy. Such as finding a bunch of soldiers greet them in Imil. Or something like that.

So they needed to be getting a change of clothes REAL soon. After a few more minutes of roaring through the tunnel, they came out of it, into the broad sunlight, and they all collectively sighed in relief. Not being 'choked' into the tunnel made things seem better. They saw a small city off the side of the road, probably a suburb of Bilibin. Isaac got off the exit, and (what luck!) saw a Goodwill store a little to the right of the road. He immediately stopped there, and they piled out of the car to go inside.

The store was mish mash everywhere with clothes racks, normally silver, were blurry and messy from years of use. Lots and lots of shirts, packed together on the racks so tight that you couldn't fathom how they got there. The floor looked unswept, and the whole store looked run-down. Pants and unmentionables too. Ivan tried not to look too much at the girls side of the store. Garet just grinned.

The man inside looked up, surprised. He had glasses on, thick and dirty, and his messy brown hair was mopped over his head as if he didn't care to comb it. He smiled, his yellowed teeth showing, his already wrinkled face wrinkling even more. "Weel now, what can I do fer you kids?"

Isaac waited for someone to speak, but they looked at him expectantly. He flushed, and swalloed, then began. "Uh... we need to buy some clothes, but we don't have any money."

"Weel 'course you don't. Yer adepts, the whole lot o' ya."

Isaac leapt back from the counter in surprise, as did the others. Ivan was ready to run for it, it looked like, but the man chuckled. "Make yerselves at home, fellas. We're all in the same boat, normals and adepts. I don't give a damn 'bout who ya are."

Then he grinned at the adepts faces, which were still tense and drawn, worried. The man slapped his knee. "Ya all look like yer constipated er somethin. Lighten up fellas! Tell ya what, I'll trade ya for whatever ya need, you know? Say... three pairs for all of ya? Hurry up though, 'fore in somun' else comes in."

The adepts just stared at him for a moment, wondering how he knew, but then again, the clothes made it pretty obvious. Mia jerked the other three from their surprised state, and the four of them went about picking out three normal outfits. The man watched, shaking his head, laughing. "I tell ya what kids, I ain't had adepts come through here in nearly five, six years. But we used to get plenty, till they forced em out. Nearly ran me outta business, bastards..." his face was dark, and angry all of a sudden, but he smiled again, just as fast. "Nevertheless, we keep up somehow."

Isaac smiled nervously. "Thanks a lot sir... really."

"And now see sonny," said the old man, "That's why I do this. 'Cause you know manners, and I tell you what, I ain't run into too many normals cept my Jesabell that know 'em very well."

Now, the adepts were much more at ease, and felt safe for a few more minutes, while they stuck their selections into papers bags, changed into one of their outfits, and carried their bags to the front desk, along with their old gray uniforms, which were covered with dust. As the man got up to ring them up on the register, the door to the shop opened, and an important looking woman came in dragging along her husband (or so it appeared) with her. She looked important because of the huge amount of eye shadow and the high heels she wore. Her complicated looking white dress helped too.

She looked at the man with piercing blue eyes. "They'll have to wait. I need-"

The man interrupted her, his eyes flashing, the old angry tone in his voice again. "YOU'LL be the one waitin' missy. They got 'ere first, so jus' take a seat over there." He pointed to an old chair that looked ready to collapse, it's wooden legs twisted and warped. The woman turned red, obviously from anger, and then walked over to the chair, but refused to sit down.

"Suit yerself..." said the man, turning back to the adepts. "Alrighty then kids, you'll trade me these fine uniforms for some clothes, right?" Isaac nodded. "Good then. Yer outta here." He slipped five hundred dollar bills to Isaac over the counter while the woman wasn't looking. "Here's your change sir." he said, just in case she had seen. Isaac was flustered, but the man put his finger to his lips. _Shhh._

They couldn't thank him enough, but they had to get going. "See you around sir! Thanks very much!" said Ivan on the way out.

"Welcome sonny. Now, miss, what do you..."

The sounds from the old shop faded as the made their way to the car. Isaac realized why the man gave him money now: gas. He was nearly empty. He filled up at a station down the road from the store, and got on the highway again, going north.

Mia laughed, her bright blue shirt blowing slightly in the wind. Her new jeans were faded a bit, and she loved her outfit, simple though it was. It felt good to wear CLOTHES again. "That man was really nice!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah he was!" said Ivan. His green shirt hung loosely around his waist, and his jeans were baggy, exactly how he wanted them. He grinned at Isaac, who's yellow shirt went with his khaki's pretty well. "Nice slick talker!" he laughed.

"Nothin' slick 'bout it, sonny!" he said, mimicking the older man's voice. Garet burst into laughter, slapping his knee, his bright red hair mirrored in his shirt. He sighed, as he put his feet up, his jeans flapping madly in the wind.

"That's not too smart Garet..." warned Isaac.

"Since when was I smart?" asked Garet.

"...My point exactly," finished Isaac.

The four of them burst into laughter, a lightened moment on their journey north.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"What the hell do you mean!" shouted Alex into a cell phone that he pulled out of his pocket. Agatio, Saturos, Menardi, and Karst listened intently to the one sided conversation.

"WHAT THE HELL! HE WHAT!... I DON'T CARE! GET HIM BACK! NOW! YOU KNOW WHAT HE LOOKS LIKE!... WITHIN A WEEK! OR IT'S YOUR HEAD!"

He gripped the cellphone so tightly that it broke, severing the call. He glared at everything, nothing. "Goddamn..." he muttered. "The old bastard has more guts than I thought."

"What is it Alex?" asked Karst, completely comfused.

Alex sighed angrily. "Isn't it obvious? Kraden's disappeared."

"WHAT!" screeched all the others in the front.

"Yup. Gone since yesterday, apparently, and they didn't think it was important enough to report to me. Apparently, he went towards Bilibin, but we can't be sure. He's old and decrepit, but he's damn smart. We shouldn't have underestimated him... damn."

He slammed his fist into the metal seperating the two cabins, a metal CLANG issuing, startling the others in the back cabin.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Sheba suddenly awoke in Felix's arms, scared because of the sound, the screaming from next door. She darted up, looked around, and saw everyone wide eyed, apparently a bit scared too. She looked to her side.

Everyone except Felix anyway. "It's fine guys... just some guy called Kraden escaped." Sheba, relieved, fell back against him, feeling utterly safe from the rest of the world in his arms. Neither of them had come out and said it, but they were in love, completely in love, helpless to do anything but fall deeper into it.

Jenna smiled. "Good dreams, Sheba?"

Sheba grinned back. "Can't remember..." she said, hugging Felix with both her arms and resting her head on his shoulder. Felix stroked her hair absentmindedly with his left hand.

Feizhi said, "Wait, did you say Kraden?"

"Yeah," said Felix, "Why?"

"KRADEN!" repeated Feizhi. "Don't tell me you've never heard of him...?"

"Well... I guess not. Should I have?" asked Felix. Jenna turned with rapt attention to Feizhi.

"Well, he studies psynergy and how it's used... and what makes it. He went into Mt. Aleph about a year ago, and came out with something, but nobody knows what. He was about to make it public, but then he changed his mind for some reason. Nobody knows why. He's kept it a secret to this day."

"He was by Vale?" asked Jenna. "Why didn't he come to see us?"

"Dunno," said Feizhi. "All I know is that he's a highly respected scientist. He's a tough old geezer though..." She grinned. "Somebody tried to mug him, and he had to give them some cash. He tracked them down, and two weeks later, all that was left of them was found in a trashbin. He never admitted to it, but the guy had been shot three times with a twelve guage shotgun."

"DAMN..." said Sheba. "He means business then."

"He sure does," said Feizhi, her expression one full of thought. "Anyway, if these guys were looking for Kraden, maybe it has something to do with what he found!"

"Maybe..." said Felix. "Oh well... it's nothing to worry about, eh?" He grinned. "Let's enjoy being away from them while we can," he suggested.

Sheba just hugged him tighter, and blushed as he put a hand under her chin. She looked up, and they kissed a moment, their first real kiss _kiss_... and they both loved it. But they both stopped, because they had an audience.

Jenna stuck out her toungue, but Felix just laughed. "Oh come ON Jenna... where's your boyfriend?"

Jenna turned red. "What're you talking about Felix?"

Feizhi grinned. "Aren't, like, you and Isaac an item?" Jenna blushed even more.

"OH SHUT UP!" she shouted. "S-so what about you and Ivan?" she turned it around on Feizhi.

Feizhi stayed relatively calm, turning just a shade of pink. "Just friends, at the moment."

"At the moment? Hmmmmm..." chided Sheba.

They all four laughed. Lightearted, though clouds were on the horizon of their spirits, they flew on to the north...


End file.
